1893
March 31  
(no 3)
Concord, Mass.
  Just after passing Dakin's Hill (I followed the
channel down to take advantage of the current) I
came in sight of a large number of Black Ducks
which were swimming and fishing on Holden's meadow
close to the edge of the water. They did not appear
to notice us at first and I worked the canoe
slowly across to the wood edge and up to within
about 100 yards of them when they flew. Four which
had kept apart from the rest on the water went
off together in a different direction from that
taken  by the others. There were thirty six birds
in all. I saw several pairs flying about later in
the day.
[margin]Black Ducks[/margin]
  At the cabin everything proved to be just as I
left it last December. There were few signs of mice
in the house but they have wrought great damage to
the turf in front of it by digging up the grass stems
and eating the roots. Several square yards of sod
look as if pigs had recently rooted all over it.
There was a foot or more of old sodden snow in
the woods on the north side of Ball's Hill but
the south side, as well as Bensen's field, was
entirely bare, Birds seemed to be scarce in
the neighbourhood, a pair of Chickadees and
five Tree Sparrows which flitted along past the
cabin while I was eating dinner and a few
Song Sparrows in the bushes bordering Bensen's
field being all that I saw.