1893 
Nov. 1.                                         
Concord, Mass.
  Clear with strong South winds. Early morning very cold
(the ground frozen hard for the first time this autumn) but the 
middle of the day soft and warm with crickets chirping again in
the fields.
  Spent the day hunting Partridges going over precisely the
same ground as yesterday, but this time alone. Started16 and
bagged 3, firing 11 shots. Most of the misses were hard snap
shots but two were fairly good chances. One of my birds was
shot sitting being started by the dog and taking a pine where it
perched low down on a dead branch. I have had singularly bad
luck with straight away shots this autumn, but have missed almost
no good cross shots-the reverse of my usual experience in 
Partridge shooting.
  While looking for a Partridge among some dense young pines
in the heart of an extensive tract oif woodland, I came upon a
Northern Shrike. The dog started it from the ground when it
flew up into a pine and sat erect and still, looking down at me.
  On the wooded hillside east of Robbin's Mills and two hun-
dred yards or more from the brook among large white pines not
far from a wood path, I found a balsam fir about 8 feet in height
very vigorous and healthy looking, the first of its kind that I 
have ever detected in this region. It hardly seems possible