Lake Umbagog, Maine
1895
Sept 25
Clear and warm with light S. W. to S. E. winds.
  I had planned a trip to Cambridge River to-day for
the purpose of getting more photographs of that beautiful little
stream. C. had a bad headache & could not go so I started
in one of the large boats with Jim & Will at 7 A.M. The
fog was unusually dense at the time and after rowing half an hour
(at a speed of certainly six miles per hour) we were surprised
& somewhat discouraged to bring up at Moose Point! However
the sun had now begun to show dimly & we had no more
trouble in laying a straight course down the Lake but
the fog hung late & we saw but little of the shore until
we reached Lakeside.
[margin]A day up
Cambridge River.[/margin]
[margin]Lost on the
lake in
the fog[/margin]
  Four Shelducks & six Black Ducks were the only water fowl
seen during the passage of the Lake.
  On landing at Upton I went at over to the cellar where
the Umbagog House formerly stood. The Crossbills were there
- fifteen or twenty birds representing both species - eating dirt
on the very same spot where they were similarly employed Aug. 30.
The whole space which they have worked over is less than a yard
square. I shot a pair of Red Crossbills but the male lodged &
I did not get him. The female had the belly bare & wrinkled
but when I skinned her I found that she had passed
the stage of incubation by at least three or four weeks. Like
the White-wings shot yesterday she had not moulted but
was in very ragged, worn breeding plumage. None of the
Crossbills were singing to-day.
[margin]Loxia minor
et leucoptera[/margin]
  A great flock of Sparrows flew up from the weeds about
the old cellar and on inspecting there I found that these