1891.
Dec. 1
Concord, Massachusetts.
Ball's Hill.
Concord. - Cloudless and warm for the season the ther.
rising to 42[degrees] at noon. Wind light from S.W.
  To Ball's Hill with George, spending the day. Benson
helped us. We cleared several vistas to open out
views to the S. and S.W. over the meadows. 
A Brown Creeper, some Chickadees, two Blue Jays and
three or four Crows were seen on or near the hill
during the day. I also saw a Red-tailed hawk
flapping lazily over the meadows, below Davis's Hill.
A Great Horned Owl apparently inhabits, or at least
visits, the pines on Ball's Hill for I have found
several of his feathers there lately, two of them
to-day entangled in the branches of hazel bushes
near the pines.
[margin]Bubo[/margin]
  We stopped work at sunset and started for 
Benson's. I lingered behind the two men and
on the bank of the river near the stump of the
old oak stopped for several minutes. The greater
part of the river had freed itself from ice during
the day and was now perfectly calm. A large
Muskrat came to the surface near where I stood
and crossed the river, apparently going in under
the ice after his last dive. I waited some time
to see if he would reappear but saw nothing more
of him.
  The drive home was delightful this evening.
The afterglow of the sunset was very beautiful
a broad zone of the deepest rose purple extending
around the western horizon & lasting nearly half-an-
hour.
  There were two Blue Bays & a Nuthatch at the Buttrick's
this morning while I was dressing.