1890 
Jun 7
Lynn (or Rivira B.) Marsh
A hunt for Sharp-Tailed Finches
Early morning dark and [?] then clouds breaking away and the 
sun coming out at 10 a.m. Rest of day clear & warm with pleasant 
S.E. breeze.
Met Faxon by appointment on the 7.56 train at Porter's and
with him transferred to the Saugus Branch of the Eastern at Charlestown
and went to East Saugus when we entered the great Lynn marshes.
As we passed through orchards interspersed with oak groves on
our way from the station to the marsh we heard several Orioles,
a Warbling Vireo, a Purple Finch, and numerous [?] Sparrows and
Robins. On the edge of the marsh a Bobolink and Meadow [?]
were singing in a [?] field and a Quail whistling in the
distance.
On reaching the marsh we both heard a fragment of a song which
I at once guessed to be that of a Sharp-tailed Finch and then 
next moment saw the bird - certainly a Sharp-tail and apparently
[?] - rise and fly a few birds alighting again on the edge
of a creek. We beat the place carefully but could not find
the bird again. Three or four hundred yards further on I startled
a very pale sub-[?] on the edge of a broad creek which it, of
course, crossed without hesitation and thus escaped. A third,
[?], which I came upon in very short grass near the edge 
of a pool was very [?] and easily secured. We found no others
in this Saugus division of the marsh although we beat over
an [?] extent of excellent ground. There were a few
Savanna Sparrows singing, perhaps one to every fifty acres.
Crossing the turnpike we traversed the marsh north of
the river without seeing a bird of any kind except two or
three Savanna Sparrows and four distant Crows. As we were
resting on the Eastern R.R. embankment at the end of this 
stretch we heard what I am nearly sure was a Golden Plover
It whistled six or seven times and was evidently flying