Concord, Massachusetts.
1891.
Oct. 31
Concord & Carlisle. - Clear and very warm for the season,
in fact quite the warmest day for three weeks. The thm. 
at noon must have risen at least to 75 [degrees]: There was a
moderate S.W. wind all day. At sunset clouds gathered
in the W. and there were other signs of [delete]a[/delete] coming rain.
[margin]Woodcock 
shooting[/margin]
  George brought the horse at the usual time and
I started towards Carlisle with no very definite plan
of action but with a general impression that it would
be wisest to hunt for a bevy of Quail as the last two
days and nights have been so warm that I did not 
suppose there could have been any flight of Woodcock.
I[t] occurred to me, however, to look at a piece of
Woodcock cover that Humphrey Buttrick [delete]had[/delete] pointed out
to me on Wednesday. It lies a little south of Bateman's
Pond not far from the Lowell road. To may great
surprise it proved to contain three Woodcock this
morning. Don pointed two of them and ran up the
third. All three rose in such a way as to give me
hard shots and all went off like bullets so that
I scored three misses. I found only one again. It
rose as I was getting over a wall and I missed
with my first but hit it hard with the second barrel.
It kept on, however, and disappeared over the top of
a maple in a swamp. I was determined to find it
but for more than an hour I worked the dog
back and forth through the swamp and some oak
scrub beyond in vain. At length by the merest
chance my eye happened to alight on the bird
which was squatting on the ground on the
edge of a little opening within a few yards of
where I stood. It was so badly hurt that I