1888
Nov. 13
Grantville (Wellesley Hills) Mass.
Clear, still, frosty. Ther. 25[degrees] at sunrise. Ground
frozen and pool skimmed over all day in the shade.
  To Grantville by 7.45 train with Spelman.
The depot carriage took us out on the turnpike
to the swamp behind Henshaw's and returned for us
there late in the afternoon. Our days beat
was over nearly the same ground that Henshaw
and I traversed last year leaving out
that behind heckles.
  In the first swamp by the turnpike a Grouse
started behind me. It was forty yds. off before I
could wheel and fire. My shot brought a cloud of
feathers but the bird kept on and we could not
find it again.
  The second bird, a very red one, started from a
brushy hollow where Henshaw shot a Woodcock
last year. I fired and it fell in a curious way
coming down lightly and gradually with its wings
spread. It then spun about among the leaves making
a great fluttering. When I got to it however its head
was raised & it acted as if it might fly again
but I caught it easily. Apparently its legs were
wholly, its wings partially, paralized. It was a
beautiful specimen without a stain or a feather
missing.
  My third shot was among low scattered pitch pines
in an old pasture. I saw this bird start from
under a bush and run several yards before
flying its tail, widespread, catching my eye at once.
When it rose I fired bringing it down stone
dead. It proved a gray bird, like the first a [male]