1889
Sept. 5
Lake Umbagog, Maine.
A duplicate of yesterday - cloudless with dense fog in morning  
and smoky haze all day. Exceedingly hot & with little breeze.
[margin]Lakeside[/margin]
  Off at 9 a.m. on foot walking along the road to the
Sweat place. Beat the knoll by the graveyard without
finding anything. A D. maculosa singing sotto voce and
rather brokenly, perhaps a young [male] practising.
  Crossing the road I next tried the alder run. At the lower 
end Don ran in on a Woodcock which I heard rise
and fly up into the spruces of the hillside. The next
moment he pointed another staunchly. I saw this second
bird sitting on the ground a few yards ahead of the
dog, its head held high. Before I could get into a good
position for a shot it rose and crossed the road
without giving me half a chance to shoot. I did not
follow it but looked for the first bird which I put
up among some young spruces and killed it easily enough.
Some two hundred yards further on Don found a third
Woodcock among brakes and pointed on its trail.
It fluttered up feebly and after flying a few rods
alighted again. I went at once to the spot and killed
it as it rose a second time. Although a fine large bird
it did not fly much faster than a Rail owing probably
to the fact that its new wing feathers were not fully grown.
[margin]Woodcock 
Shooting in 
Lakeside 
opening[/margin]
  Next up into the back pasture on a hillside with
thickets of young spruces and grassy openings, a large
central area recently cleared, the spruces piled in heaps
for burning. Many birds here. A flock of fully 20 
Blue Jays screaming, whinnying, & chuckling, flying back
and forth across the opening. One or two Flickers
with them. A Sharp-shinned Hawk alighted on a bush
heap near me and remained there several minutes,
then scaled off into the woods. A few adult Marsh
[margin] Small birds[/margin]