1890
May 31  
Wayland to Saxonville, Massachusetts
A superb day, cloudless or nearly so from sunrise to sunset with
strong fragrant W[west] wind all the afternoon.
I was awakened soon after daybreak by a Bittern which
pumped  in the meadow below the house at frequent intervals
for nearly two hours after sunrise. Bobolinks &[and] Meadow Larks
were also singing on every side. Besides these species we heard or saw from
the picasso while waiting for breakfast Milospiza melodia, ?Sposilla
?s??rtis,. P???tis, Carpodacus, Dendroica aestiva, Gerthlypis Trickas,
Merula migratoria,Ampelis,, the four swallows, Icterus galbula,
Empidomax minimus, Tyrannus carolin??cusi, Colaptis, Chaetura
and Agelaus in all twendy-one species.
  We started up the river at 8.a.m. It was dead calm and the sun shone
strong and warm from a sky without a cloud. The birds sang
as if they were all mad with joy or love. Red-wings were
abundant for we had passed the flooded meadows and then
in great thickets of button bushes and patches of grass not
under water. Marsh wrens were numerous for a mile or two and
we heard one Short-bill. Then the meadows ceased altogether
and after we had passed the entrance to Herd's Pond the river
was confined in most places between high steep banks for the
most part heavily wooded. Then were some beautiful little bits
- trees overhanging narrow, straight reaches, broad pools with black
willows, a fine old stone arch bridge with an elm carrying the
trips of its branches in the water. We heard the first Nashville
Warblers notes on the trip and saw two Cooper's Hawks.
  After passing the stone arch bridge the river became very swift
narrow &[and] winding with a high wooded ridge on our left
and an open meadow pasture on the right. Some of the
scenery here resembled that of the Assabet but was wilder
and altogether finer. We found a large colony of Bank Swallows
nesting in a sand bank and took some photographs of these.