Penobscot Bay, Maine.
1896
July 14
(No 2)
  Not one of the species of local birds which I have thus
far found on the Neck failed to sing at least once or twice
within my hearing during this walk. Even the Yellow-rumps
& Kinglets seemed to have started up again with some vigor
and as for the Nashvilles, Black-throated Greens, Black & Yellows,
Hermit & Swainson's Thrushes, Juncos, Peabody Birds, Song Sparrows,
Chippies etc. one would have thought that it was the very
height of their love making season. I heard one Parula Warbler
and the Black-billed Cuckoo in the pasture behind the
school house.
  It was a genuine surprise, however, to hear at least
two Savanna Sparrows singing steadily in the field by
the roadside just above the school house for hitherto I
have found but one bird on the Neck and that on
the point opposite the house. How these birds on the
hill-top could have escaped my notice is a mystery
for my evening walks have led more frequently past
this field than anywhere else & I have several times
spent an hour or more sitting on the stones by the
roadside (close to where I found them to-night) watching
the sunset.
  There can be little doubt, however, that there was
something about the weather conditions this evening which
stimulated the vocal energy of the song birds to a
degree very exceptional at this season. The air was very
clear, absolutely calm and, after so warm a day,
comparatively cool. Evidently, too, the song season here
lasts much later into the summer than with us. No
doubt it begins later and perhaps the Crows & Red
Squirrels have something to do with it for I believe they
rob most of the earlier nests. At least we have seen
very few young birds & have found many half demolished nests.