Concord, Mass.
1895.
Oct. 19-31
  With the exception of the 25th & 28th which were spent at
Cambridge I have been at Concord during this period
but I have seen so little of interest and the ground
has been so thoroughly covered by my journals of former years
that I have not thought it worth while to keep a
daily record other than that of my condensed field list.
  Since the great storm of the 12th & 13th we have had
practically no rain and the weather has been clear most of
the time. Nevertheless the month has furnished but few really
pleasant days. There have been too many violent winds and
the nights have been cold and damp. The smaller, shallower
ponds have [delete]frozen[/delete] skimmed over repeatedly and the leaves
killed by the frosts have withered & fallen without attaining
their usual brilliant tints. Indeed since the red maples
lost their foliage it has been a comparatively colorless
autumn.
  The great storm raised the river about three feet &
flooded the meadows for nearly a week. When the water
began falling Greater Yellow-legs appeared in unusual numbers
and stayed five or six days. I saw them on the Great
Meadows and in front of the Keyes's and heard of them
all the way upstream to Wayland. Pectoral Sandpipers
also paid us a visit. I saw one on the 20th and a
flock of six on the 23rd in the meadow on the east
bank of the "Holt". They were very tame & I watched
them for an hour or more (on the 23rd). Soon after
I left them a gunner (the lame man who hobbles over
the meadows with a crutch) came on to the meadow
& fired six or eight shots at them. I saw him
pick up three birds & fear he got the whole flock.
[margin]Greater
Yellow-legs.[/margin]
[margin]Pectoral
Sandpipers[/margin]