1893 
June  11          
Say brook, Conn.                                                                                  
Clear and hot with light southerly winds.                                                    
  We spent the day on the big marshes taking lunch
with us and eating it near a small marsh island, afterwards
wading ashore & lying for two or three hours on the side of
a ridge overlooking the marshes under the shade of a
cedar we smoked our pipes and talked or looked off over
the green, lawn-like marsh towards the mouth of the
Connecticut.
[margin]A day on the
salt marshes[/margin]
  On the marshes we found a number of nests, Marsh Wrens
with 5, 5, 4 and 1 eggs, two Sea-side Finches, 4 eggs, two
Red-wings one with 4 young nearly ready to fly, the other with
a set of 4 remarkably beautiful eggs. I took two Wren's nest,
the Red-wings with eggs, & one of the Seaside's. Also the
Sharp-tails found by F. yesterday but the eggs in the last
were on the point of hatching & I had to throw them away.
[margin]Nests found[/margin]
  We heard no Sharp-tails singing but the Sea sides sang freely,
often rising into the air and singing on wing. I noted
several variations of the song in my pocket book.
The nest which I took was found by Faxon. The other
which I found was worthless the eggs being so far advanced
that I left them to the rightful owners.
  This marsh covers several hundred acres. It is level                   
& very like our River marsh in general appearance save
that its creekare very many places bordered with belts
of cat tails all of the narrow species. The grasses
are also of different species from ours. All are very short
attaining, apparently, an extreme height of only 8 to 10 inches.
Potentilla anserina forms dense beds along all the creeks & ditches
[margin]Description
of marshes.[/margin]