1893 
Nov. 12                                         
Concord, Mass.
  Cloudy and nearly a quite calm most of the day the
air, especially in the afternoon, peculiarly soft and fragrant.
  At daybreak C. heard a Screech Owl wailing near the cabin.
When I stepped outside a little after sunrise Snow Buntings
were whistling on the meadows, apparently high in air.
  C. left for Cambridge soon after breakfast and Spelman
arrived a little later having ridden from Cambridge on his
bicycle. We took a short walk in the forenoon seeing nothing
of much interest but before this - at about 8.30 A.M. - I rambled
off alone and met with a number of birds. The first were 
a large flock of Tree Sparrows on the edge of Bensen's field.
They were flitting about among some bushes and there was a 
good deal of really fine singing from the old males.
In the pines near the glacial hollow six or eight Chickadees, 
a Red-bellied Nuthatch and a Golden-crest were busily feeding.
The Nuthatch, a fine male, was [delete]ope[delete] extracting the heads from some
pitch-pine cones.
  Looking off on the rim I quickly discovered the Coots, one
in precisely the same spot where the bird was seen last
evening, the other a little above well out in the open water,
both swimming about in devious courses nodding their heads
and picking up food of  some kind from the water. A Red-tailed
Hawk was also in sight perched on a maple over the river.
  In the afternoon Spelman & I took a long walk to Lawrence's
farm old woods and beyond. Started two large flocks of
Sparrows from weed fields. One flock contained over 40 Tree Sparrows
and two or three Juncos, the other about 15 Juncos, 8 Fox Sparrows
& 20 or 30 Tree Sparrows. We also saw a flock of 14 Fox Sparrows
among pines. It was night & very dark when we reached the cabin.