1890
May 26
Oak Island and Lynn Marshes, Mass.
- Hunt for Sharp-tailed Sparrows.
Cloudy with chill E. wind and occasional dashes of rain.
  Met Faxon by appointment at R.B. & L.R.R. station in
Boston whence we took the 9 A.M. train for Oak Island
returning by 3.53 P.M. train.
  On entering the oak grove which shades the pic-nic
grounds we found numerous Yellow Warblers, a Parula, and a
Black-poll singing but their notes were well-nigh drowned  by 
the clamor of the countless English Sparrows which were
nesting not only under the eaves of the tawdry-painted
booths but also, in several instances, high up in the 
forks of the oaks where these large globe-shaped nests
were conspicuous objects.
[margin]Oak Island
English Sparrows
nesting in oak
woods.[/margin]
  Beyond the Eastern R.R. tracks, in the as yet primitive
woods renowned among botanists for the many rare and
curious plants which grow in such profusion under the shade
of the oaks, maples and basswoods, there were few if any Sparrows
but an extraordinary number of Yellow Warblers, several Redstarts,
Robins, Maryland Yellow-throats, Oven birds, Wilson's Thrushes & Song
Sparrows, another Parula Warbler and a Black-poll or two, a 
[female] Wilson's Black-cap, a Water Thrush, a Red eyed Viro*[Vireo], a Wood [Paver?],  a Bronzed Grackle, and
along the edges of the wood, a few Red-wings. I have rarely, in
this region, seen so many small birds crowded into a like
space and as nearly all of them were singing the noise
they made was really confusing. How many of them were
migrants I cannot tell. We found several nests - a Yellow Warbler's
with five eggs and a Robin's & Song Sparrow with young.
[margin]A natural
aviary[/margin]
  After spending nearly an hour in these woods watching
and listening to the birds and examining the leaves
or blossoms of the various strange-looking plants which,
in many places, formed dense beds of vegetation, we
started out over the marshes in pursuit of Sharp-tails and
[margin]Rare & curious
plants[/margin]