1891.
Nov. 8
Concord, Massachusetts.
Concord. - A perfect day, cloudless, the air clear & sparkling,
the sun warm, almost no wind.
[margin]A tramp with Bolles in the Estabrook woods[/margin]
  Bolles came up from Cambridge this morning and we spent
the day in the woods taking a long tramp - through the
Damsdale, up the Estabrook road, in by the lime Kiln, around
ash swamp, across country to Bateman's Pond and homeward
skirting the edge of the wooded country reaching the Buttricks
just as the sunset glow was fading in the West & twilight deepening.
  We saw a good many small birds chiefly Tree and Fox Sparrows,
Juncos, Robins, Jays and Crows, with a few chickadees, several
Knights, two Creepers, two Downy Woodpeckers, a Rusty ? Blackbird
and a Pine Linnet. The last two were heard near Bateman's Pond
both flying over us apparently but neither seen. Fox Sparrows were
seen in several places. Several in company with Tree Sparrows
were in a birch swamp on the Pratt place. We stopped to watch
them when one began singing, first in an undertone, finally
rolling out some of this rich notes with nearly the full spring time fervor.
[margin]Fox Sparrow singing.[/margin]
  We heard two Partridges drumming quite steadily at short intervals
late in the afternoon and flushed a third just at sunset.
On the knoll near Bateman's Pond where I left a Woodcock yesterday
Don found and pointed what was doubtless the same bird. It
rose rather wild and went off like a bullet taking the same
course as yesterday.
[margin]Woodcock.[/margin]
  A female hound, very pretty, gentle & affectionate, joined us
and followed us for some distance leaving us after sharing our lunch.
  The fields were alive with grasshoppers and the grass
stalks and bushes sheeny with the delicate strands of the
balloon spider's "web". I heard no crickets. The prominent sounds
were the cawing of Crows and the screaming or bell calls of Jays.
Chipmunks out in force, very busy & noisy. Robins scattered
about everywhere in small flocks. Tree Sparrows the most numerous
and conspicuous birds.