1892
Feb. 15
Concord, Massachusetts.
[margin]Ball's Hill[/margin]
Mass.
Concord.- Cloudy with a flurry of rain in the early morning
but the sun out bright by 10 a.m. Remainder of day
clear and warm, the snow melting fast. No wind.
  To Ball's Hill with George by sleigh at 10 a.m.
On the way down saw several Crows and three Juncos
the latter in Peterson's apple orchard.
[margin]Crows &
Juncos[/margin]
  On Ball's Hill I noticed no bird except a
Blue Jay and a Chickadee. The Chickadee was
apparently entirely alone a fact which did not
seem to weigh on his spirits in the least.
[margin]A solitary
Chickadee.[/margin]
  On the back side of the hill next the swamp
I found a Partridge track and afterwards
flushed what was doubtless the bird that made
it from the button bushes on the edge of Benson's
little pond. Foxes had roamed all over my
land since my last visit and one of them
had inspected the large "earth" on the
hill-side above my well. This burrow (or
at least its entrance) is quite large enough
for a Fox yet it is apparently tenanted by
Rabbits numerous tracks of which led into
it to-day.
[margin]Partridge[/margin]
[margin]Foxes[/margin]
[margin]Rabbits'
burrow[/margin]
  The walking is now excessively difficult in
both fields and woods the snow being more
than a foot deep and covered with a crust
not quite strong enough to bear one's weight.
  My men finished the excavation for
my log house to-day and I spent much
time watching them work. We find the larvae
of d[?][?] beetles and ants in the earth that we
remove. No earth worms have turned up.
[margin]Larvae of
"June Bugs"[/margin]