Concord,Mass.
1895
Oct.8                
  Cloudy with a moderate but steady rainfall during
the forenoon.                                                                             
  I went to Ball's Hill again this morning sailing down       
in the rain. As I was passing "Hunt's Pond" a flock
of the Meadow Larks flew across the rim and alighted    
in the fields on the north bank. I heard a few
wandering about high in air.
[margin]To Ball's Hill[/margin]
  I spent the forenoon "house cleaning" an irksome but 
very necessary task for the mice. spiders & ants combined
had, during the summer, strewn the shelves, floor & table
hung their ceilings & covers with a sad litter of chips,
sawdust & cobwebs. The rain beat noisily on the tin
roof & my fire burned cheerfully in the fireplace
while outside the woods were gloomy & silent. Indeed
I heard only a few Crows & Jays & saw nothing but
a drenched, forlorn-looking Catbird who came down
to my window and seemed to look in longingly as
if half inclined to beg a place by my fireside.
[margin]A rainy day
in the cabin[/margin]
  After dinner, however, the rain ceased & I paddled down
river to the birch island where I landed & walked
to the Mason field. Someone was shooting in Lawrence's
woods. Jays were screaming & crows cawing. I heard  
two Hairy Woodpeckers.
[margin]Dryobates
villosus.[/margin]
  Returning I passed the cabin without landing & kept
on homeward. The sky was clearing in the west &
a cool N.W. wind rising. One or two Song Sparrows
sang and a Kingfisher flitted on before me.
Muskrats were rolling out ripples from among the clumps
of button bushes. They appear to be numerous this autumn.