1891.
July 3.
Tintern to Wells, England.
Save for an hour (1-2P.M.) of cloudiness and brisk shower
the day was perfectly clear and the atmosphere as free from
haze as it often is in New England. The weather has been 
very cool of late.
  By rail from from Tintern to Wells -9.15 A.M. -12.35P.M.
The country, after leaving the Wye and passing through the 
tunnel (four miles long) under the Severn, is completely
level. The fields were glorious with wild flowers many new
and strange to me. I saw few birds except Rooks, Starlings,
Sky Larks and Yellow Hammers. A Shrike, the firat I have 
seen, with red back and a black bar through the eye sat perch
ed on the telegraph wire and permitted the train to pass
without flying.  Some House Martins were collecting mud about 
the edges of a puddle in the road near a station where the
train stopped and taking it to their unfinished nests under 
the eaves of a low stone building acting precisely like our
Eave Swallows when similarly engaged. No Lapwings seen on
this trip. 
Wells. At 9 P.M. started for a walk. Passed half way round
the extensive grounds of the Bishop's Palace following a
broad path shaded by superb old elms which dipped the droop-
ing ends of their lower branches in the waters of the wide
moat on the left. To the right stretched open fields with
distant lines of trees and some woods crowning a hill.