1887
(Dec. 14) 
South side. the only wonder is that they have been
spared so long. Several of the largest trees must measure
nearly two feet in diameter at the base. The fine
old growth [?] and maples in the swampy corner have 
not yet been molested.
  After inspecting the Owl hold in the old orchard &
finding nothing therein I kept across the open to
the hillside on the east side of the great ridge visiting
several spots associated with my early collecting days,
among others the rock-girt knoll where with Henshaw I
found my first Prairie Warbler's nest. There are some
fine old trees there, too, and nothing about the place
had changed save by the inexorable hand of Time. The
old orchard where I shot a family of Scops nearly twenty
years ago was similarly familiar and hardly more
unkempt and dilapidated than when I first saw it.
  During the afternoon I saw several large flocks
of chickadees most of them containing Kinglets (Satrapa)
of which I shot five, all from our flock. George met us
at 4 o'clock and we got home about dark.
  During the day I saw two Buteo lineatus, three Crows, 
about fifty Parus atricapillus,  one Grouse, about twelve Regulus
satrapa, one [?] and a single Melospiza melodia. Although
the day was warm and still and hence favorable for seeing
and hearing birds I did not either see or hear a single
Robin, Flicker, Blue Jay, Crossbill, Goldfinch, Purple Finch, 
Tree Sparrow, Pine Linnet, Woodpecker, or Nuthatch or [?].
[margin]Bird not 
seen[/margin]
Evidently the late autumn flight has passed and quite
as evidently we are destined to have a winter characterized
by a minimum of bird life.  Most such winters (if not all) 
in my experience have been mild with little snow. Thus
far we have had exceptionally mild weather & no snow.
[margin]Conclusions 
relating to 
season[/margin]