1893
April 2
Concord, Mass.
  Cloudless with blustering N.W. wind. A cold, raw
day in exposed places, but pleasant enough on sheltered
sunny slopes. The water very blue - March water.
  Hoffman and I spent a quiet, uneventful
night in the little log cabin at Ball's Hill. We
rose this morning at daylight and found the sky
perfectly clear, the air much cooler with a N.W. wind
which came in puffs forerunners of the gale that
blew most of the day. Song Sparrows were singing
when we stepped out of the door and a Red-wing
loon joined them. Next the solemn, bell-like
voice of a Carolina Dove came from the Bedford
shore. We scrambled up fast the cabin to the 
top of the hill. Two Tree Sparrows were singing
delightfully in the alders on the edge of the 
swamp and a Blue Jay giving the bell note near
them. The song of a Robin came faintly from 
the directions of Bensen's house and that of
another more distinctly from across the river.
[margin]Ball's Hill[/margin]
[margin]Birds heard at daybreak[/margin]
  We heard nothing more until we returned to
the cabin where a Phoebee greeted us with a
few brief notches of song. Certain slight peculiarities
in his voice identified him at once as the same
bird which spent a month or more near the
cabin last spring. but, failing to secure a mate,
finally left returning again for a brief visit in
late summer. He had a companion this morning
a silent bird which I trust is a female although
the two did not appear to be on the best of terms.
[margin]Return of the Ball's Hill Phoebee[/margin]