1892
Dec. 15
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord. Cloudy and warm but chilly with
almost no wind.
  To Concord by 8.03 train. Drove to the
Buttricks' from the station and launching my
"Stella Maris" canoe started down river at 10.30.
Landed at Dakin's Hill and walked to Holden's
then returning paddled to Ball's Hill when I
opened my cabin at about noon and spent
an hour or more cooking & eating dinner after
which Holden arrived and together we went
to his wooded hills when we started the
bounds of my recent purchase. I then crossed
the fields to Benson's house and from there
returned to my cabin through the pine woods
and swamp. At 4 p.m. I started up river
and after taking tea at the Buttricks' took
the 6 p.m. train for Cambridge.
  Although the sky was gray and lowering and
the woods & fields sloppy with melting snow,
the river, calm all day, and the meadow views,
veiled in a delicate smoke-gray haze were
very attractive & pleasing after the bustle of any
city home. Birds appeared unusually numerous
for the season probably because the mild weather
tempted them out of the woods to the thickets
& isolated trees along the rim or partly, perhaps,
because the still, damp air brought the sound
of their voices from exceptionally great distances.
I heard or saw a Red-shouldered Hawk (a
fine adult perched in a tree near the rim)
five or six Blue Jays, a flock of five Tree Sparrows