Concord, Mass.
1895
Oct 6
(No 2)
is excessively dry after the long drought. Indeed I found
that I could go anywhere in the swamps & runs without
danger of wetting my feet although I wore thin canvas shoes.
I started three Partridges. One flew from the branches of a
leafy oak directly over the wood path as I was returning
half an hour after sunset. It was so dark at the time
that I could not see the path distinctly & I think the
bird had gone to roost. It called quet-quet-quet-quet,quet
in low hurried tones just before taking wing.
[margin]Bonasa
umbellus[/margin]
  Among some second-growth oaks near the pond I came
upon a young Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus), a very tame bird who
allowed me to get within a few yards of him although he
took pains to keep a tree trunk between us most of the
time peeping out from behind it with a shy, saucy expression
like a Squirrel as it struck me. The species is the slowest
and most clumsy climber of our Woodpeckers. He is also
much given to fits of pensiveness or abstraction when he seems
to be quite oblivious to what is going on around him.
I have seen very few Sapsuckers in eastern Massachusetts
within the past ten years - not more than one or two in
any one season and often none during an entire season.
Probably this is because I have spent so much of my
time in Concord when they appear to occur much less
often then in the region about Cambridge.
[margin]Sphyrapicus
varius[/margin]
  As I was watching the sunset at Bateman's Pond
a Gray Squirrel began "barking" in the pines behind me & kept
it up for some time. I should call it cawing rather than
barking (ca-ca followed by several choking sound). It is
very unlike any other Squirrel voice.
[margin]Gray Squirrels[/margin]