Concord, Mass.
1893
Aug 5
  At sunset last evening there was a broad belt of clear
sky in the N.W. but clouds were rolling lazily overhead
from the S.W. and by 8p.m. a few drops fell. The air
was warm and very dry, the newspapers predicted a clear
and excessively hot day for to-morrow (5th), and our
farmer neighbors agreed that there was no chance of
continued rain. Nevertheless the clouds thickened and
gradually overspread the heavens until they blotted out the
clear stripe in the N.W. and the rain increased to a
steady but gentle fall which lasted through the night.
Soon after daybreak this morning it began raining very
heavily and continued without the slightest cessation or
abatement up to 10 A.M. After this a drizzle and clearing weather in the P.M.
The night was still with a puff of air every now & then
from the S.W. At 8 A.M. the wind was N. to N.E. but
not strong. Thus ended the [delete]long[/delete] drought which since
July came in has been broken by only a few short
thunder showers.
[margin]The drought
broken[/margin]
  I was restless during the night and awoke many times.
At about 2 A.M. (I did not look at my watch) I
was surprised to hear Chimney Swifts twittering outside
the window. There seemed to be a good many of them
and the sound of their voices indicated that they first
circled about the house several times and then went
off towards the south. When I first heard the twittering
there were also several birds making their peculiar rumbling
in the chimney but this soon ceased and was not again
repeated. The night was dark and still at the time
with rain falling gently & steadily. My impression is that
these Swifts were starting on migration & that several birds roosting
in our chimney emerged and joined the larger throng.
[margin]Chimney
Swifts
flying at night[/margin]