Ball's Hill.
1891.
Nov. 30
Concord, Massachusetts.
Concord. - Clear and very cold. Thm. [?] 4 [degrees] at sunrise. The 
river wholly skimmed over for the first time, the roads
as hard as flint. A rather strong N.W. wind, dying 
away at sunset.
  Spent the day working at Ball's Hill with George 
Carroll, driving down and putting up the horse
at Benson's. There was the usual little flock of
Chickadees and Kinglets accompanied by a Creeper
among the pines on the hill and besides them a
Downy Woodpecker and a small flock of Tree
Sparrows, the latter in the alders on the edge of
the swamp. In the woods on Lee Davis's hill I
heard several Jays screaming. Crows were flying
about singly and by twos and threes at intervals.
I saw then or a dozen in all. As we were on
our way back to Benson's after sunset we started
a Hermit Thrush among pitch pines. It flitted
on ahead of us for some distance, checking at 
frequent intervals.
[margin]A late Hermit Thrush[/margin]
  The highest point reached by the thermometer
at the Buttrick's to-day was 28 [degrees] and water
froze in a can in the sun where we were
working; yet George came upon a very lively
Garter Snake which was lying in the sun in
an opening in the woods. He called me to
see it but before I reached the spot it
had crawled into a hole under the roots
of an oak. I had no idea that any species
of Snake could brave such cold weather.
[margin]Garter Snake[/margin]
  The ride  home was very pleasant despite the
cold for the sunset was exceedingly brilliant.