July 14
(No 8)
Concord, Massachusetts.

Concord. - of a badly-wounded or rather dying bird. I
have never seen anything to equal the performance just
described. It was not accompanied by any vocal sounds
whatever. Perhaps the most interesting thing connected with
it is the fact that the nest about which all this fuss
was made was in a tree and the eggs still unhatched!
When I looked at them a few minutes later I noticed
for the first time that one was fully a third larger
than the others. The "runt" egg looked transparent and
infertile but the larger egg was dark-colored and
evidently near hatching. After descending to the ground
I drove away the Jays and left the place.
  Another object of my trip to-day was to look for 
the nests of the Short-billed Marsh Wrens but the weather
was too hot and the greater part of the belt of canary
grass where the two birds were singing last week had
been cut. Both birds, however, were singing still in
the current portion and I had heard two others of
whose presence I had no previous knowledge singing
in the meadow opposite (to the east of) Pad Island.
The songs of the latter came faintly but quite
distinctly to my ears as I was walking over
Benson's knoll although the intermediate distance
is fully 300 yards! The air, however, was absolutely
still at the time.
[margin]Short-billed Marsh Wrens[/margin]
  The song flight of the King Bird puzzles me. I see 
it much oftener now than I did in June. During
the intense heat of this afternoon the birds were going
up very little while & dining & plumping in this eccentric way.
[margin]Song flight of King bird[/margin]