1889
June 4
Watertown, Mass.
Heavy rain in forenoon. afternoon clear and warm.
  Started for the Coolidge farm at about 3p.m.
taking horse car to Mt. Auburn. Passing the sand banks
found all the Sand Swallows gone, their holes dug open,
evidently the work of a small boy. In the Cemetery
woods heard Wood Pewees and Vireos, both olivacius & flavifrons.
A Flicker laughing in the apple orchard. Its mate flew
from her nest as I passed. It was low down in an
apple tree and had been cut open by boys. I looked
in but could see nothing except the usual bed of chips
at the bottom. The Least Flycatcher next was gone, as
it was empty on the 31st and apparently deserted I have
little doubt that the birds have torn it to pieces and
removed the materials to form another nest. A pair of
Yellow Warblers have just done this in my garden.
One of the Yellow-billed Cuckoos was sitting on the
nest found May 31st, the other calling occasionally
in the neighborhood.
  The Indigo bird's nest on French's Hill contained four
eggs, one of which was distinctly spotted. I shot the female
and took the nest and eggs. The male did not appear on the
scene to-day. The woods on this hill alive with noisy
English Sparrows. The only native birds singing then were a
Redstart & Hood Pewee. the Tanager & Creeper seen on the
290th ult. must have been migrants or wanderers.
  Next to the Arsenal woods. Just as I was entering 
them from the railroad I found a Redstart nest
in a barberry bush very conspicuously placed at a
height of about 6 f[ee]t over a trodden path. It held
four young. These woods were filled with birds a
Grosbeak, Catbird, Wood Pewee, and numerous Yellow