1886
Nov. 8
Belmont, Massachusetts.
  Clear and cold with a blustering N.W. [north west] wind all day. The
ground frozen stiff at sunrise.
  To Prospect  Belmont, St.[Street] with Chadbourne at 9 a.m,
taking my man along to hold the horse.  We had planned
an extended trip but the dense evergreen woods at this our
first stopping place proved to so productive that we spent
the entire day there.
[Margin]To 
Prospect St.[/margin]
  There were birds in abundance everywhere; mixed
flocks of Chickadees, Kinglets, Red-bellied Nuthatchers and
Creepers among the pines and cedars; Goldfinches and
Red Crossbills whirling about in larger flocks: Tree Sparrows
and Juncos (only a few of the latter) along the edges of
thickets bordering fields; and the usual number of Jays,
Crows etc.  Chadbourne also shot a Pine Linnet from a
flock of 8 or 10 and I killed three Bluebirds from
a company of about a dozen. Besides these we heard a 
few Purple Finches and flushed a pair of Grouse on
the edge of the swamp. Curiously enough no Robins or
Song Sparrows were seen.
[margin]Winter birds[/margin]
[margin]Pine Linnets[/margin]
  Red Crossbills were more abundant than I have
ever seen them in Mass. before. They were restless and
elusive as usual alighting in the yellow pines for a 
moment, the next dashing off and disappearing over
the trees. We must have seen at least 100, the flocks
varying in number of individuals from 10 to 30 birds
each.
[margin]Crossbills[/margin]
  Six Nuthatches (S. canadensis) were seen, four in
one flock, two in another, in both cases in company
with Chickadees.
[margin]Sitta canadensis[/margin]
  Visiting the owl tree in the old orchard on the
hill we found in it a fine Scops asio, one of them
[margin]Scops asio[/margin]