1891
April 9
No. 3
  Mass.
  Concord. the big oak by the brook. The  same large
flock of goldfinches that I saw on the 6th came 
to the oak and began singing in medley. They 
were soon joined by a Bluebird, then by several 
Fox Sparrows, next by a pair of Chickadees, and 
finally by a troop of Snowbirds. All of them sang 
at intervals, singly or together, during most of the 
time we spent here giving us a rare treat of 
bird music. At one time the two Bluebirds, both 
males, challenged and answered each other, one 
sitting in the oak, the other on the top of a 
pitch pine about 100 yds. away, keeping it 
up for at least ten minutes each evidently 
striving to outdo the other. I have rarely heard 
anything so fine. the Juncos, too, were at their 
best half a dozen or more frequently singing at once. 
Besides the species just names there were a 
single Grass Finch and several Tree Sparrows but 
both of these birds were silent.
  After lunch and another smoke we returned 
to the boat and crossed the river and flooded 
meadows to the pine woods in the Bedford 
Swamp. In mid-stream two golden-eyes, a 
fine old drake and his gray consort, were 
floating idly but they flew off down river before 
we got my [?]. On the Bedford shore under 
the lee of a belt of leafless birches a [?] old 
male Sheldrake was cruising warily about. We 
approached within 300 yds. of him behind 
some bushes and watched him for some time 
before exposing ourselves and forcing him to