1893
Aug 7
Concord, Mass
  A sultry day with two heavy thunder showers, one
between 11 &[and] 12 A.M. the other lasting from 4 to 5.30
P.M. There was a third last night between 12 &[and] 1 A.M.
The shower this forenoon was remarkable in several 
respects. It began with torrents of rain and a violent
W wind. The rain soon changed to hail which fell
thickly in lumps as big as robin's eggs beating down
corn and tearing the leaves of more delicate plants into
shreds. Our vegetable garden was very seriously injured
and scarce a lily pad in the river but was riddled
with holes as if buck shot had been fired through it.
The river this afternoon war nearly as turbid as
the Mississippi at least as far up as the Mill Brook
which was discharging a swollen stream of muddy water.
Above the mouth of this brook the Concord was
comparatively clear.
At the height of the storm this forenoon the wind
suddenly lulled for a minute or so then began blowing
again with great violence from the opposite direction
that is East.
[margin]Series of
violent
thunder storms[/margin]

  The afternoon storm was heavy but of the usual
type. Just before it began as I was sitting in
the canoe in Mr. Keyes's boat house at red bridge
I heard a Yellow-leg whistle and the next moment 
five Totanus flavipes passed low over the bridge
and pitched down into the Mill Brook meadow. If
they alighted it was but for a moment for a
little later I saw them rise over the trees
and pass out of the meadow towards the S E.
[margin]Totanus flavipes/margin]