Concord
Ther [Thermometer] Wednesday, Oct. 3, 1917 [October 3, 1917] Wea [Weather]
Melanistic specimen of Storeria Perfect
  Brilliantly clear & delightfully warm
with fresh westerly wind. No frost
since Sept 24 [September 24, 1917]. Zinnias & other tender
flowers which managed to escape that
one are still blooming profusely close
about our house. The hardier kinds
such as N.E. asters & China asters
are very brilliant & abundant.
  Birds of almost every kind 
continue scarce or waiting. 2 Cat birds
half a dozen White-thr. Sparrows [White-throated Sparrow], 2
Chippies [Chipping Sparrow] & 3 Goldfinches in our dooryard;
2 Robin in Cedar Park; A Golden crest
Kinglet, a Brown Creeper & several
small flocks of Chickadees, a few Jays
& Crows, a flock of 5 Rusty Blackbirds
on wing, a Yellow Rump Warbler [Yellow-rumped Warbler],
2 loud-screaming Hen Hawks (lineatus [Buteo lineatus])
& a single Partridge, complete my list
  Sam Henshaw told us yesterday of a 
melanistic Storeria occipitomaculata taken
recently at Kittery by Faxon & considered a
great rarity. To-day I picked up one in a
wood road near Pulpit Rock & now have
it in a glass jar. This the first I ever saw.
  Spent A.M. cutting out new wood road
thro Birch Field to Green Field: Dexter
came to dinner. We had a walk after.

Concord.
Ther [Thermometer] Thursday, Oct. 4, 1917 [October 4, 1917] Wea [Weather]
Goshawks (?) Dull.
  Mostly cloudy with strong, gusty S.W. [southwest] 
wind & two light, brief showers.
  Very few small birds. Those seen in or
near our dooryard were a brown Thrasher,
(bathing at noon), 2 Cat birds & half a 
dozen White thr. Sparrows [White-throated Sparrow]. There was a single
Yellow-rump in Cedar Park, a Towhee & 2
Partridges in Birch Field.
  As I was standing in a wood road bordered
by dense second growth oak & pine covert near
Barrett Spring an adult [male] Red-shouldered Hawk
glided low over me on set wings & just then was
assailed by a smaller long-tailed Hawk who
dashed at it several times from above after
which the two described all manner of
arial twistings & curvings just above tree tops.
 This happened at 9 A.M. At noon I was passing
through Cedar Park when a large, long-tailed
Hawk which I took to be a juv [juvenile] [male] Goshawk
came directly over me no higher than 25 ft[feet]
flying straight & swiftly. I shot at it just
as it disappeared behind some dense oak
foliage. Several feathers floated down & the
next instant I saw the bird toppling 
earthward evidently hard-hit. But it
managed to keep on feebly out of sight thro
the Run. At 4.30 P.M. I started a 
much larger, but otherwise similar looking
Hawk from the ground in an open [?]
field at Richie place. It looked as big
as the biggest Red-tail [Red-tailed Hawk] & much larger tailed.
It alighted in an apple tree among the dense
foliage & I failed to set eyes on it again.
  Spent entire day in Birch Field where
Zeph, Monson & Hansen dug & cut a lot
of birches, pines etc. To open a series of
new wood roads. Henry [Henry W. Henshaw] went to Winchester
by trolley cars to see his sister.