1892.
July 2.
(No 3)
Concord, Massachusetts.
[margin]To Ball's Hill.[/margin]
Mass.
Concord.- Sailed nearly the whole of the way to
Ball's Hill seeing nothing of particular interest. Swallows
less numerous than on yesterday. I hear more Blackbilled
Cuckoos than Yellow bills now.
  At 4 P.M. visited the Red-eyed Vireo's nest and found
two of the young hatched, the third egg very dark but
not, so far as I could see, chipped. Curiously enough
the parent bird was not sitting and did not appear
while I was at the nest.
[margin]Red eyed Vireos
eggs hatch[/margin]
  The Grosbeak's nest was empty and deserted. I
pulled it down and found a few tufts of grayish
down clinging to the lining. Probably the young
have flown ※[reference mark] since yesterday but a tragedy is not,
of course, impossible. I wish now that I had
examined it before this. On the ground directly
beneath it I found half of the shell of one of
the eggs showing that the bird merely pitched
it over the edge of the nest when the young hatched.
[margin]Young Grosbeaks
leave nest[/margin]
[margin]※[reference mark] As I passed through the thicket near the nest on July 4
one of the old birds appeared and began to chirp anxiously
thus indicating that its young were near.[/margin]
  Walked across my land to Lea Davis's hill. On its
south slope among the scattering young growth of
oaks in the sandy opening where the Partridges
dust in the autumn I flushed a Carolina Dove
directly under foot. In fact I nearly stepped on it.
It went out from under a bunch of leaves. At first
I supposed it was an old bird with a nest on the
ground but on approaching it within a few yards,
as it sat perched on a low branch of an oak
looking at me with calm curiosity, I saw distinctly
that it was a young bird barely able to fly well.
The light edging of the feathers of the body & wings
gave the plumage a pretty scaled or squamate appearance.
[margin]Young dove[/margin]