1892.
Dec. 15
Concord, Massachusetts.
Mass.
Concord.  three small parties of Chickadees, a single
Crow (sitting in an oak on the meadow)
and Pine Grosbeaks in three different places.
Of the last-named species I could make no
estimate as to numbers for twice  out of the
three times I merely heard them piping
in the distance. On the third occasion I
came upon two, apparently a pair, feeding on
the seeds of an ash which overhangs the river
at the "Holt". The male was an adult in
unusually high plumage - one of the finest
specimens I have ever seen. I spent some
time watching him reach forward & down
for one of the winged ash seeds and then
turn it deliberately in his stout bill to shear
off the wings which floated slowly down to
the glassy river beneath. He paid little attention
to me although I sat directly beneath him
within fifteen feet holding on to a branch
to keep the canoe from drifting away with
the current. The piping whistle of these
Grosbeaks bear some resemblance in turn to
the scream of a Blue Jay. Once I mistook
the distant cry of the latter for the
call of a Grosbeak.
[margin]Pine Grosbeak[/margin]
  I did not see nor hear a single bird of
any kind on my way up river. A few
Musk-rats were out in the twilight.
Skunk tracks. half-obliterated, crossed a patch
of snow in Benson's field. I should say they
had been made within a week. Only one Rabbit track.