1886
Aug. 18
Concord, Massachusetts.
  Clear and cool; wind N.E. [?]. 58[degrees] at sunrise, 67[degrees] at noon.
  Spent the morning in the Estabrook woods
going over all the ground east of the road.
[margin]Estabrook Woods[/margin]
  Found three mixed flocks; the first of about 
20 birds, mostly Chickadees and Red-eyes with one
Parula and several Chestnut-sided Warblers; then
second of about the same size and composition with, 
in addition, two Phoebes and one Least Flycather;
the third, perhaps the very largest mixed flock that
I ever saw in Mass., contained fully 200 birds of
which the greater number were Red-eyes, Chickadees, and 
Chestnut-sided Warblers, with at least a dozen Nashville
Warblers, a few D. Vireos, a family party of Orioles,
a Solitary Vireo and a few Maryland Yellow-Throats.
This flock kept well together in is slow progress
through the woods despite the fact that I shot a 
number of birds from it. It was most interesting,
watching the movements of its members. The trees
were perfectly alive with them, rustling among the 
leaves, shaking the foliage so perceptibly and generally
that is looked as if agitated by a breeze, chasing one
another about, darting out after insects, a [?] company
indeed. Let with all the bustle and stir there was very 
little noise. The frequent clicking of little bills busy
among the insects (the trees in this particular spot were
swarming with Appidas.), the occasion low lisp of 
a Warbler, the scolding chatter of a Vireo, or the sharp
challenge of a Chickadee being the only sounds. Indeed
a careless observe might have passed within 50 yds
without discovering them.
[margin]Mixed flocks[/margin]
  While following this flock I both heard and saw a