1893 
May 22 
(No 5)                                                                                                 
Concord, Mass
  Early in the afternoon I found a pair of                                                                     
Solitary Vireos on Holden's Hill. They followed me
about uttering their peculiar low whining call and
showing evident anxiety. After a few minutes search
I found their nest. Its situation was unique in a
small dead oak attached to the fork of a perfectly dead &[and] leafless
branch about 12 inches out from the main trunk and perhaps
9 f[ee]t above the ground. I do not remember ever before seeing the 
nest of any species of Vireo placed on a dead branch.
[margin]Solitary
Vireos &[and]
nest[/margin]

  The Red-winged Blackbirds clung persistently and                                                    
no doubt hopefully to the flooded meadows up to
the 21st but the since then I have seen less than ten    
per. cent of the former numbers and I am now
convinced that the others have been discouraged at
the continued high stage of water and have sought
breeding places elsewhere. I see a few nests in willows
or tall bushes along the edges of the meadows. One                                               
near Bensen's landing in the top of a willow had
one egg this evening.
[margin]Red wings
abandon the
flooded
river meadows[/margin]


[margin]Nest with
one egg.[/margin]

  At about sunset I saw two female Hummingbirds
in the horse chestnut at the Buttrick's feeding among
its blossoms and quarrelling, as do the males, for
exclusive possession of the tree.
[margin]Hummingbirds
at blossoms of
horse chestnut[/margin]

  As I beat up the meadows this afternoon the
Bittern was pumping in his usual place. I also
heard a Wood Duck give the o'cla note several times
among the flooded bushes.
[margin]Bittern &[and]
Wood Duck[/margin]