1886
July 17
Concord, Massachusetts.
Clear and sultry with light S.W. wind.
  To Fairhaven Bay by river with Purdie & Deane
spending the entire day and returning at sunset.
Took lunch at Martha's Point, sailed about the
Bay (in my Stella Maris') for an hour or more at
noon, climbed the hill to the Cliffs late in
the afternoon and spent an our or two three
looking off over the beautiful scenery spread out
beneath, and in both going and returning by
river stopped frequently to examine water plants
or listen to the birds.
[margin]To Fairhaven[/margin]
  Although sultry and at times oppressingly hot
it was a remarkable singing day for the birds,
nearly, if not quite, equal, as far as many species
were concerned, to the flood-tide of early June.
Along the river we heard many Red-wings,
Meadow Larks, Savanna, Song and Swamp Sparrows;
in the woods Red-eyes, Towhees and Tanagers;
and on the bushy hillside behind the Cliffs a
full chorus of Song Sparrows, Field Sparrows and 
Grass Finches. Quail were whistling in
several directions, a Parula singing in the pines
opposite the Cliffs landing and a Carolina Dove
cooing a little beyond those pines.
[margin]Bird songs[/margin]
  From the Cliffs we heard a perfect uproar of
Red-eyes in the oaks below; so numerous were
they that it was quite impossible to separate
the notes of any single performer.
  The event of the day, however, was hearing the
song of the Hermit Thrush in its full perfection.
The bird was in the woods below the cliffs & singing steadily
[margin]Hermit Thrush[/margin]