1892.
May 28
(No 4)
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord. It was in this little pond behind Ball's 
Hill - assuredly actually in the water. I did not
see it but I got within a few yards of it and,
I am sure, located the source of the sound accurately.
I now hear the summer squawk of the Toad every
evening & rarely the spring trill. The Hylas sing so
freely as ever during rainy evenings but not freely at
other times.
[margin]Toads & 
Frogs[/margin]
  The season is advancing rapidly. The foliage in the 
woods now casts a dense shade where there are
birches and maples and the oak leaves are fast
expanding. Most of the apple trees have shed their
blossoms. The grass is tall and waving and it is
near the height of the buttercup season. Robins
and Bay-wings still sing freely at morning &
evening but not much at other times. I do not
often hear the Meadow Larks now and the 
Bluebirds have almost wholly ceased.
[margin]Progress of 
the season[/margin]
  Yesterday one of my men in moving a wood pile 
on Ball's hill dislodged a family of five mice (Hesperomys
leucopus) four young, with their parent, he thought. He
said that they were all "white" but the only one
which he caught and brought to me is pure white
only on the under parts the entire upper surface being
a rich cream color with a very faint tinge of
fawn. It is a singularly beautiful and very gentle
little creature.
[margin]Wild "White" 
mice.[/margin]
  On the burnt ground of Ball's Hill I found this 
afternoon a small snake which was wholly of a
rich mahogany brown slightly redder below and
with confused nearly obsolete dark markings above
[margin]Small mahogany 
brown Snake[/margin]