1891. 
Aug. 23.  
Ripon, England
  Cold, with a cold gray sky, - a dismal November-like day.
  Spent the morning writing. Attended service at Cathedral
4 P.M., At 5.30 started alone for a walk. Passed to left of
Cathedral down a hill by a curving lane with high brick or stone
walls on left side enclosing cultivated grounds belonging to a
large house.
  Swallows skimming through the lane and a swam of Martins
flying about high in air under lee of Cathedral. A Blackbird
flitted from tree to tree ahead of me. No sounds of insects or 
birds save the occasional grating cries of the Martins or
twitter of the Swallows.
  Reaching the river Skell I crossed it by a foot bridge and
took a foot-path that follows the right bank. Water very
shallow, fairly clear, but smelling of drains several of which
emptied directly into it. Yet I saw many fish rising. A man
whom I found watching one of them said it was a trout but after-
wards confessed to some doubts on this point. The little river
was quite pretty in some places. Willows grew along its banks
and overhung the water. In one of them I saw a party of seven
or eight Blue Tits. A Spotted Flycatcher was perched higher up
darting out at frequent intervals over the water.  While I was
watching these birds a Wood Pigeon with one primary missing
passed high overhead.