Concord, Massachusetts
1895
Oct. 7
  Early morning clear but remainder of day cloudy with light
showers in P.M. Very warm with S.W. wind.
  Drove to Fairhaven Bay with Miss Keyes immediately after
breakfast in search of the spaniel "Prince" whom we found
at the camp on Martha's Point. Saw a good many Jays,
Crows, Song & Chipping Sparrows & a fine Red-shouldered Hawk 
soaring over the river just below the Bay. Photographed the big
pasture hemlock at Nine Acre Corner but the negative proved worthless.
[margin]To Fairhaven[/margin]
  To Ball's Hill in the early afternoon sailing the entire distance.
The river is lower than I have ever seen it before and the
Great Meadows are so dry that the farmers are running their
mowing machines over the Snipe grounds. The thickets and
beds of tall grass & wild rice along the river banks were simply
alive with Song & Swamp Sparrows among which were also a
few Peabody Birds. As I was paddling up stream at about
5 P.M. the sun came out warm & clear for a few minutes
and all three species began singing. I could hear them in
every direction, far & near, a dozen or more different birds.
Most of the songs were feeble & confused & evidently those of
young birds but there were two old Song Sparrows who chanted at
short, regular intervals in full, finished tones just as in spring.
Altogether it was an unusual & very delightful concert.
[margin]To Ball's Hill[/margin]
[margin]Song, Swamp &
White-throated
Sparrows singing[/margin]
  The autumn coloring along the river front at Ball's Hill and
in the maple swamps behind this hill was as fine as anything
I have ever seen in Massachusetts. It was practically confined to
the red maples & tupelos, however. the latter are usually much
earlier than the former but both appear to have attained their
greatest perfection at the same time this year. Of the two
[margin]Autumn
foliage[/margin]