1893
May 17
Concord to Cambridge, Mass.
  Early morning cloudy, the sky clearing before 10 A.M. the
rest of the day fine and rather warm with scarcely any
wind.
  At 10 A.M. I started to drive to Cambridge. As I
entered the Lincoln woods the birds were singing freely
on all sides. I heard first a Red-eyed Vireo, then a 
Tanager and, in one of its old-time haunts, a Golden-
wing Warbler. More Tanagers & another Red-eye before
I reached Lincoln.
  Near Sandy Pond a Hawk of a species quite new to
me started from a tree over the road & flew off
bearing something which looked like a frog in its talons.
It was shaped much like a Broad winged Hawk &
its flight was similar but it was scarce larger than
a Domestic Pigeon and its wings were of peculiar shape
very broad as far out as the secondaries extended and
strikingly narrow towards the tip. They were very much
crooked also and the tips bent sharply upwards like
a Turkey Buzzard. The tail was very short and square 
at the tip. [diagram] [diagram]. The color appeared to be
uniform dark brown above & whitish beneath. I could
think of nothing but Buteo brachyurus. The bird was
much too small for B. pennsylvanius & the slope of
the wing was wholly different. I saw it fly several
hundred yards across a clearing in the woods. 
[margin]A strange
Hawk[/margin]
  A dozen or more Tree Toads in or about a small
pond in the woods. They are the first I have heard.
They were calling as they do in June.
[margin]First
Tree Toads[/margin]