Canton, Mass.
1893 
July 10                
  Clear and cooler with a strong north wind.       
  I went to Milton yesterday and passed the night
at the Haywards'. At 8.30 this morning I was driven
over to the Bowles'. The two sons Jack & Charles had
been actively collecting the past three months and had
many beautiful sets of eggs to show me, among them
a set of Hairy Woodpecker's eggs (3 in number), three sets & nests
of Solitary Vireo, a set of 5 eggs of the Red-shouldered Hawk,
three sets of Screech Owls eggs, and one of the Bittern besides
two sets (6 & 7 eggs) of the Short-billed Marsh Wren. The
greatest prize of all, however, was a fine, large Otter
which Charles Bowles shot March 30th (1893) in Ponkapoag
Pond. It swam across the Pond directly towards some
inflated canvas decoy ducks one of which it was about
to seize when the first shot was fired by Mr. Bowles.
It took six shots in all to finish the poor animal.
There are several Otters living in & near Ponkapoag to
judge by the signs which the Bowles Bros. have seen
during the past year.
[margin]A hunt for
nests of the
Short-billed
Marsh Wren[/margin]
  At about 9 A.M. we started for the Meadow where
the Marsh Wrens breed following a narrow wood path
which leads down a long strip hillside through oak &
pine woods. Black-throated Green Warblers, Red eyed Vireos
and a Wood Thrush were singing in these woods.
On reaching the meadow we started at once to search for
Wren's nests and kept it up unceasingly until 1 P.M.
when we returned to the house. Although the day
was cool for the season we suffered severely from heat
& thirst for the grass was tall & dense & the walking very hard.