1888
Nov 2
Wellesley, Mass.
Clear and warm (ther. 70[degrees] at noon) with strong S. W. wind.
  To Wellesley by 7.30 train meeting Denton at the
station. He had a horse and carriage waiting and
we started at once, driving about two miles
out of town and, leaving the horse tied by the
roadside, began the days hunt by beating a range
of birch swamps & runs. In these we found two
Grouse. I fired a long shot at the first which
went out by D. who thought it badly wounded.
It flew through an orchard, past a barn, &
when last seen was skimming, low down, over
an open field in which it probably fell dead.
The second rose behind me on the edge of some
scrub. Wheeling & cocking one barrel I killed this
bird within thirty yards. In some oaks beyond
the Baker pond we flushed a third Grouse which
rose very wild & went off unshot at.
[margin]Ruffed Grouse
shooting[/margin]
  Next entered an extensive woods of white pines,
fine old trees with many dead stubs & fallen logs,
altogether a remarkably primitive, shaggy forest
for this part of the state. Saw no Grouse here
but the woods were alive with small birds,
at least 50 Fox Sparrows, half as many Juncos,
several Hermit Thrushes, Chickadees & Creepers, two
Kinglets (R. satrapa), about six Sitta canadensis,
and a Picus villosus. I shot at the latter &
hit it hard but it "towered" high over the
woods and drifted off out of sight.
[margin]Small birds[/margin]
[margin]Sitta canadensis[/margin]
[margin]Picus villosus[/margin]
  Lunched near the bank of the river on the edge
of a large field where I found Quail "dustings" in
the side of an ant-hill but failed to start the