Concord, Mass.
1895
Nov. 1-8
  Will Stone joined me at Concord on the 1st
and spent the following week with me. The
weather was wonderfully fine—clear, warm, & still
—Indian summer weather in fact. Of course we
were out every day, usually taking the canoe
and going to Ball's Hill.
  Birds were not very numerous but there was a
fairly large flight of Tree Sparrows &
Juncos. Not a single Duck was noted and
Hawks of all kinds were very scarce.
"[Nov] 19-26
  I left Concord on the 8th and went to
Washington to attend the A.O.U. meeting.
Returning to Cambridge on the 16th I drove
to Concord on the afternoon of the 19th and
spent another week then came back to
Cambridge for the winter on the 26th.
  During this week the weather was almost
uniformly bad with several heavy rains but
it was fortunately warm most of the time.
The country was nearly barren of birds. There
were, to be sure, a good many [delete]Chickadees[/delete] Tree Sparrows and
almost nothing else even Chickadees being scarce.
I saw a Shrike (the first) on the 21st and during
the week three or four Pine Linnets, all single birds.
  Frank Garfield, having nothing better to do, has
been trapping Musk rats this autumn. During the
past month he has caught in the river and
its tributary brooks between Dixon Brook & Davis's Hill
252 Muskrats. They are practically extirpated by this
severe drain. I have seen only two or three during this week.
[margin]Great
slaughter of
Muskrats[/margin]