1893  
April 8 
(No 6)                                                                                       
Concord, Mass.
  It appeared to be of a uniform dull black color                                                                     
both above & beneath with a little white molting or
perhaps barring on the upper side of the tail. At
first i took it for a black Rough - leg but the
flight [delete]was more[/delete] like that of a Buteo was heavy
and direct the bird first flapping a few times and
then scaling. It chose for its perch moreover a stout
horizontal branch about midway of the oak
where Archibuteo would have been nearly
certain to alight on the topmost twig of the tree.
Here such occasions at all probable I should
suspect strongly that this Hawk was Buteo harlani.
Perhaps this hypothesis will answer as well as
another for certainly the bird belonged to a
species which I have never seen living before. It is
quite possible, however, that it was a black
specimen of Buteo swainsoni . It was rather larger
& stoutly built for the latter species however, [delete]about[/delete]
being of about the size of a male Buteo borealis.
[margin]Buteo swainsoni?[/margin]
  Cabin, 4 P.M. it is raining hard & thunder loudly                                   
yet a dozen or more Fox Sparrows with as many
Juncos & Song Sparrows are feeding on the hemp seed
in front of my door. The delicate blue-gray of the
Juncos contrast pleasingly with the rich tawny
of the Fox Sparrows. the latter are rather quarrel-
some, birds driving away the Juncos & Song Sparrows
& telling at each other with open bills & bailing
wings. Occasionally two mount straight up ten
or fifteen feet to head. striking at each other
with their bills. Now a male sings gloriously in the rain.
[margin]Fox Sparrows[/margin]