Concord, Mass.
1893
July 31
(No 2)
  On my way back from town this morning I 
passed near Mr. Edward Hoar's garden. To my surprise
there were at least six Martins sitting on the ledges
of his bird house or peeping out of the holes. This
colony must have bred late this season for the
birds left the boxes on the river bank beyond
Nashawtuck*[Nashawtuc] Bridge nearly a week ago and broods of
young Martins with their parents have been scattered [delete]about[/delete]
over the whole country about Concord for ten days
or more. They seem to be unusually numerous and
I think they must have been unusually successful
with their young this year. Their vo[i]ces sound pleasantly
these still warm days coming from out the sky over
meadows, fields & woods. Go where I will the call
of the Martin is constantly in my ears whereas in
May & June I see or hear but few away from 
the town. The old males are still "singing" freely.
[margin]Purple
Martins[/margin]
  Bobolinks have been very scarce of late. The wild rice,
delayed probably by the protracted floods of last spring,
is only just passing out of blossom and the grass
on the meadows is so tall & dense that the Bobolinks
cannot easily get at the surface of the ground so
there is probably little or no feed for them along
the river. I saw five there to-day, however. Two of the number
were old males, one appearing to be in
full spring plumage while the other had entirely lost
his tail feathers and showed patches of yellow feathers
among the black ones.
[margin]Bobolinks[/margin]