1887                                                                       
Sept.21  
MAINE, (L. Umbagog.)
Clear and warm. Wind S.W. - air full of smoke all day.
  Spent the morning about the house at work
on some of the birds taken yesterday. Just after
breakfast shot three Loxia Cencoptisa in the balm-of-
gilead poplar in front of the house. Two of them
were females which had barely finished incubating
the breast & abdomen being bare and slightly
wrinkled. The [male] had the testes of half size.
[margin]Loxia
leucoptera[/margin]
  In the afternoon tried the Sargent clearing
for Woodcock. Don found two in the corn [?] the
Lake shore and jointed both. The first flew
about twenty rods after I shot at it and fell
dead, the dog finding it. At the second I fired two
very difficult shots & probably missed both.
[margin]Woodcock
shooting in
Sargent
opening.[/margin]
  Just north of the road Don roaded a Grouse
into the corn & finally made a handsome
point. The bird flushed before I saw it giving 
me a hard shot which I missed.
[margin]Partridge[/margin]
  In the spruces north of the the road we found
two Woodcock. Both were very wild & would not
lie to the dog. I got only one chance at them
and killed by a difficult snap shot.
  Saw a solitary Vireo in alders and a large
flock of Rusty Blackbirds by the roadside.
[margin]Solitary Vireo
Rusty Black-
birds.[/margin]
  The maples are turning fast and there
are patches of gorgeous gold & crimson coloring
in every direction
[margin]Autumn
foliage[/margin]