1892
May 9
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord. - Clear and warm with S. to S. E. winds.
  To Ball's Hill at 10 a.m. for the day. Saw nothing
of much interest on my way down the river. The
hill was a melancholy object after the destructive
fire of yesterday the top, south, east and north
slopes as well as much of the land about the base,
being a black and desolate waste. There were many
White-throated Sparrows in the burned thickets but
the Brown Thrashers have departed. Ruby-crowned
Kinglets still numerous & singing. Found and
empty & apparently deserted but perfectly neat & new
Carolina Dove's nest in a scorched young pitch pine
on the south slope of the hill. Also a Robin's
nest with two eggs in a small white pine outside
the burnt area.
  On my way up river late in the afternoon saw
a Green Heron sitting in a white maple and a
Short-eared Owl flying about in the usual
aimless erratic way over the Great Meadow. It was
a calm evening and birds were singing freely.
Counted five singing Bobolinks on the way up.
Musk rats out in great force; saw no less than
seven. Two Bitterns pumping in Great Meadow, one
near the western end, the other about south of
the Holt.
[margin]Short-eared Owl[/margin]
  The season is advancing very steadily & evenly.
Shad bush and cultivated cherry trees in full
bloom to-day. Poplars with beans as large as
a silver dollar. Gray birches unfolding their leaves.
Cassandra in full bloom, blueberry bushes just opening
their white bells.