Concord, Massachusetts
1894
Oct. 11 to
Nov. 21
(No 13)
Resume of Field Observations
closely a not very difficult task for they were nearly
everywhere covered with snow. I was beginning to despair
of success, however, when, on reaching the sharp turn just
above Holden's Hill I caught sight of a bunch of feathers
clinging to a twig of one of the large white maples
which line the west and south bank at this bend. Pushing
in under these trees I at once found abundant evidence
that the Saw-whet had been picked and eaten there,
but by what remained as much a mystery as ever.
The murderer must have been a bird, however, for he
had chosen as a dining table a stout branch which 
extended out over the water at a height of about
fifteen feet. This branch was smeared with blood and 
several feathers clung to it while many others were caught
among the bottom bushes beneath. On a snow bank
at the water's edge I found still others as well as a 
few small fragments of flesh but these must have been
cast down from above for the snow bore no signs of
footprints.
  On my way down river in the morning I started a 
Red-tailed Hawk from this very belt of maples but
yet I can scarcely believe that he was really the
destroyer of the poor little Owl. The latter was probably
caught in the maples where he was eaten for Saw whets
are often found at this season in leafless trees on
meadows on the banks of streams.
  Marsh Hawks have been decidedly less numerous than
usual. I saw the last (these birds in the brown plumage)
on the meadows October 19.