1888
May 26
Oden, Michigan
A. M. cloudy with dense fog. Afternoon cloudless
the air very clear and sparkling. Weather cool.
  After breakfast took a turn about the clearing
and shot a pair of Wood Thrushes in the
woods near the bath house. Also a Mourning
Warbler which I gave to D.
  At 9.30 started by boat for the Conway shore.
The fog was so thick that we could see only
a few rods ahead but a brisk wind from the
S. W. gave us the direction and after a tedious
pull a high, heavily timbered ridge loomed up
ahead and we found that we had made
the very spot for which we had aimed. The
shore was steep with birches and hemlocks reaching
out over the water, above and behind them a
grand old forest of maples, elms, beeches &
basswoods many of the trees over 100 ft in
height and 3 to 5 ft. in diameter their trunks
rising without a branch for 50 to 70 ft. their
tops spreading and umbrella shaped. The ground
beneath was perfectly free from undergrowth
& but little encumbered with logs or fallen trees.
The general character of their woods was closely
similar to that of the forests of western No.
Carolina. They were literally alive with birds
which, for the most part, were in flocks in the
tops of the tallest trees from which our
heaviest 12 g. charges often failed to bring
them down. So high indeed were they - that
it was impossible to distinguish the different
species with any certainty & we were forced to