First touch of Winter. Cambridge.
Ther [Thermometer] Tuesday, Nov. 26, 1918 [November 26, 1918] Wea [Weather]
18 [degrees] Camb. [Cambridge] (10 [degrees] at Concord)          Fine.
Brilliantly clear with fresh northerly wind
Coldest day of season thus far. Surface of
exposed ground hard frozen.
  Garden birds. An unseen Robin calling
many times at 9 A.M. A Golden-crest
Kinglet and a Flicker heard later; also
a Chickadee. 2 Jays flying through
Jungle. House Sparrows altogether absent.
Have not seen or heard one about the
place this month. What can have 
become of them. General absence or
scarcity of Fringilline birds. A Goldfinch
& a Junco noted once; a White-throat [White-throated Sparrow]
thrice; Pine Linnets twice (once a flock of 33)
make up the full list of such birds
observed in the Garden since I returned to it.
  Reexamination & sometimes answering of
neglected correspondence continues to
occupy almost my whole time daily.
Large number of letters, circulars, appeals
etc. accumulating through autumn must
thus be dealt with before other work
can be resumed. Usual evening reading
by E.R.S. [Elizabeth R. Simmons] C. [Caroline Brewster] telephoned cheerily from her quarters.

Cambridge.
Ther [Thermometer] Wednesday, Nov. 27, 1918 [November 27, 1918] Wea [Weather]
26 [degrees] min. [minimum] Fine
Cloudless, almost windless, cool but
without bitter chill ; altogether a not
unattractive late autumn or early winter
day, much to be preferred to yesterday for
out-of-door employment of whatever kind.
  Garden birds. A silent Jay peering it [in] at
Museum study window from tangle of
nightshade vines just outside, 6 outrageously
noisy Crows perched in tree tops in Jungle
apparently vituperating something or other
there that I failed to see, a pair of
Starlings & 7 Herring Gulls, on wing high
in air heading towards Fresh Pond.
  The task of sorting, destroying, filing & perhaps
answering, accumulated letters continued
through today yet remains unfinished.
I left it at 3 P.M. to stroll up Brattle St.
to Elmwood, through Lake View Ave. & back
through Highland St. Saw a few House Sparrows.
My boy friends Thompson [Lovell Thompson] & Walcott [Charles F. Walcott] came at
5 staying half an hour. They report a
Mocking bird at Fresh Pond (Hemlock Point)
on Nov. 17. Almost no Ducks in any of the
ponds, they say. E.R.S. [Elizabeth R. Simmons] read to me after supper.