Concord, Mass.
1896
April 22
(No 2)
[April 22, 1896]

end of Great Meadows where I landed and listened
to them for some time but of this more anon.
  The arrivals to-day were the Brown Thrashers (one in full
song in the evening twilight on a hill side near "Hunts Pond"),
Eaves Swallow (one heard distinctly at Ball's Hill in
the late afternoon) Chimney Swift (one twittering at
sunset high in air over the cabin) Spotted Sandpiper
(one at Hunt's Pond seen this morning by Pat and this
evening by me). I also saw my first Marsh Hawk this
afternoon (a male skimming along the river near the
cabin) and this evening heard my first Great Horned
Owl. The latter hooted three times in the direction
of Holden's Hill as I was paddling up the Beaver Dam
Rapid but the sound seemed too distant to come from
the Hill and I suspect that the bird was beyond &
probably in Mrs. Barrett's woods.
  At about 6 o'clock this morning I heard a Creeper
(Mniotilta) singing near the cabin and in the bushes
along the river paths found a Hermit Thrush and a
Tree [Tree Sparrow] & White-throated Sparrow. The Thrush [Hermit Thrush] & White-throat [White-throated Sparrow]
doubtless arrived during the night but the Tree Sparrow
has been there several days.
  It is singular that so many birds should
have come last night for the weather was not
only thick & stormy but also very cool and these
conditions must have prevailed over a rather wide
area.
  I should have mentioned that C. [Caroline Brewster] & E.R.S. [Elizabeth R. Simmons] left me
this morning, starting for Cambridge at 8.30.