1892
June 14
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord.- Clear with strong S.W. wind. Intensely hot
the maximum temperature varying from 95° to 100°
Fahr. in different towns in this county. Late in the
afternoon a heavy shower gathered in the W. but it
passed to the northward of us although we had one
or two lashes of rain and vivid lightning in the
early evening.
[margin]Intense heat.
It silences
the birds[/margin]
  I drove Miss Derby & her [?] to Ball's Hill this
morning and to Walden in the afternoon. The
heat was too much for the birds to-day and I
heard scarcely any singing,.except in the early
morning about an hour. During the drive just
mentioned I saw nothing but common species.
  Grass Finches are still singing freely. This evening,
just before the shower, one, sitting in the tops of 
an apple tree near the house, held my close
attention for at least ten minutes. It was the
finest singer that I have heard this season or
rather I should say that its singing was the
finest for the same bird has frequented this field
since April but, as I have noted in former years,
the song certainly gains in both richness and
expression as the season advances. I have verified
this fact to my entire satisfaction this year.
The April singing was disappointing, the May
better, but not until this evening have I heard
the bird at its best. I care more & more
for its song as I get older. It seems to me to
combine in some degree the sweet simplicity of the
Song Sparrow's song with the richness of the Fox Sparrow's
& in addition to possess a spirited quality not found
in either. Sweet, simple, rich, fervid, it is all these and more!

[margin]Song of the
Grass Finch[/margin]