1889
(Nov. 30)
pond. It rose about 20 yards ahead and came directly
at me rising just above the scrub which was here about
15ft. high. I had a fairly open shot but a very awkward
one firing my first barrel as the bird was coming "head on"
at perhaps twenty yards, and cutting a whole handfull of
feather from it but failing to stop it, then whirling 
and pulling the second trigger after it had passed
probably missing "clean". I saw the bird scale nearly a
quarter of a mile over the hill behind where I searched
for it some time, afterwards, in vain.
  Next drive to the low pine ground or, as I used to call
it, Lexington Lane. In the big woods on the hill I
started two more Grouse in dense cover on the edge of a
springy run. One of them gave me a long snap shot 
which proved a miss.
  I took a long tramp in this region going over all
my old grounds. Small birds were exceedingly scarce.
I met one mixed flock of Chickadees & Kinglets (satrapa)
accompanied by the inevitable single Certhia and afterwards
found a second Certhia alone in some open oak &
maple woods. I also saw two Redpolls and heard a
few others. These with perhaps two Tree Sparrows complete
the list.
[margin]Chickadees[/margin]
[margin]Kinglets[/margin]
[margin]Certhias[/margin]
  During the drive home in the late afternoon we saw
absolutely nothing but one or two Crows and a few
Tree Sparrows.