Lake Umbagog, Maine
Bethel to Lakeside
1895
Aug.29
  A warm rain through the forenoon & a cloudy afternoon with
occasional light showers, the day ending with a glorious sunset
the clouds breaking and rolling up and back like great folds
of drapery letting the sunbeams stream through on the drenched
fields and dripping woods.
  I left Bethel at noon and started for the Lake by the
regular stage being the only passenger. The roads were muddy
& heavy and the aspect of the country gloomy & depressing for
most of the mountains were cloud-capped and the light was
dull & grey. We reached Poplar Tavern at 2 P.M. and
dined there. A Cat-bird and two or three King Birds with several
great flocks of Chipping Sparrows were seen along the road.
In the notch we saw a Humming Bird and a Maryland Yellow-throat.
At Brooks's three or four Swallows were flying about but none
came near enough to be certainly identified. They looked like
Barn Swallows.
[margin]Cat Bird[/margin]
  There were more large flocks of Chipping Sparrows flying up
from the road and alighting in the apple orchards and
thickets of bushes along the fences, a little party of three
Kingbirds, scattered Song Sparrows and Grass Finches, a
Golden-crested Kinglet calling among some spruces, but only a
single Junco for the whole thirty miles and no large birds
of any kind except five or six Crows.
[margin]Chipping 
Sparrows[/margin]
  The clouds began breaking away & the sun came out before
we reached Upton & the whole lake valley when we
first looked down upon it was a glorious panorama of
shifting lights & colors as the heavy cloud masses [crossed]shifted[/crossed]
parted and swept majestically across the scene.
It was nearly dark when we reached Lakeside.
[margin]The lake 
at sunset
from Upton Hill[margin]