1892
Jan'y 29
Concord, Massachuseets.
[margin]Ball's Hill[/margin]
Mass.
Concord: Cloudy, still, and mild, but a trifle chilly
with a breath of E. wind now and then.
  Down to Ball's Hill this forenoon returning to
dinner. About midway of the lane which leads
to Bensen's we started an immense flock
of Goldfinches from a field of weeds. There must
have been over 100 of them. They rose all together
in a perfect cloud and alighting in the top
of a leafless tree completely filled it, crowding
the branches and twigs like clusters of fruit.
Returning through this lane an hour or two later
we found the Goldfinches gone but started a
flock of ten or twelve Tree Sparrows from the weeds.
I also saw here three Blue Jays and a Downy W[oodpecker].
On Ball's Hill I flushed a Grouse from under a
bushy oak on the summit and heard Crows
cawing & Jays screaming. In Bensen's Pines I
found two Chickadees. George (Carroll) saw a
Shrike in Bensen's orchard, describing it to me
afterwards very accurately.
[margin]Ball's Hill[/margin]
[margin]Large flock of
Goldfinches[/margin]
  In the woods on the north side of Ball's Hill and
the pines along Bensen's ridge the ground was
covered about ten inches deep with dry powdery
snow. This everywhere was thickly tracked over
by Rabbits & Mice and a few Foxes had also
left their footprints.
  The ice boomed at frequent intervals while I
was at the hill. More than ever I was struck
by the resemblance of the sound – when coming
from a distance – to the pumping of the Bittern
The river is now frozen over everywhere.