1889
Nov. 30
Waltham & East Lexington, Mass.
Clear and cold with N. W. wind. Ground frozen hard all day
in the shade, in the sun thawing & muddy.
  This being the last day of the "open season" for Ruffed Grouse
I made a trip after them starting at 9 A. M. and driving first
to Shuman's Pond in Waltham. It was a cold drive, facing
the keen wind and I saw nothing by the way save a
few Tree Sparrows, four Juncos, three Crows, and a Downy Wood-
pecker. Reaching the pond I left George in charge of the horse
and started in on the east shore. I had the pointer puppy
"Pan" (son of my old "Don") with me this being his first hunt.
He proved too green and timid to be of any use in keeping at
heel most of the time and paying no attention whatever to
the few Grouse I started.
[margin]Grouse shooting[/margin]
  My first bird rose among dense Barberry bushes overrun with
bull-briars on the steep hillside sloping down to the pond. It
did not come out in sight until fully sixty yards off when
I fired a quick shot getting just one feather to show that 
my aim was not wholly bad. There were no small birds on
this hill except a few Chickadees and Kinglets. The pond
was wholly free from ice. A man working on its shore told
me that few Ducks are seen there now in autumn but that
last spring many Black Ducks alighted in the pond. It
has changed little if at all in the last twenty years. The
shore where I used to shoot our live decoys in 1868 is still
an unbroken belt of woods with perhaps more bordering
marsh than it used to have. There are no new buildings
on or near the shores.
   Returning to the buggy I drove over the high hill to
the westward and near the cross roads beyond entered
the woods on the left. The cover was exceedingly difficult, dense
oak scrub with a tangle of blackberry bushes beneath. A little
way in, however, I started a Grouse on the edge of a small