1892
Sept. 13
Mass.
Concord, Massachusetts.
Concord. Another fine, clear September day, evidently
the last of this series, however, for at sunset a bank
of threatening clouds rose in the W[est] and there was an
unmistakable feeling of rain in the air.
  To Ball's Hill by canoe at 3 p.m. sailing most of
the way down. An Osprey and a Kingfisher almost
the only birds seen. Saw a Phoebe & a few Song Sparrows. 
The Osprey was fishing over the broad reach opposite
Ball's Hill. Poising in one spot at a height of 20 or 30
feet with body raised wings flapping
quickly but loosely, the strokes directed
forward instead of downward, and with the feet &
legs hanging down, the big bird scanned the water
closely. He swooped five times and plunged three
times before he got anything. The last swoop was made
beyond some rushes & I did not see the plunge if
plunge there was but when the bird reappeared &
flew heavily past me within 100 yards, he held in
one foot (the other foot being drawn up & hidden by
the plumage) an oblong, shining object which I
am very sure was a Painted Tortoise! If a fish
I could have been nothing else than a Hound Port
for the color was black and shining. The bird
flew to a tree on the hill & alighted but took 
wing again before I could get over.  
[margin]Osprey catches a Tortoise?[/margin]
  The woods on my grounds were silent and
apparently totally devoid of small birds. I did
not see so much as a Chickadee there. When an