Concord, Mass.
1896
Nov. 21
(No 3)
  As I was making my way through some dense
young pines on the Prescott lot this forenoon
Benson's dog who was a little in advance started
an enormous Owl which I took to be Bubo virginianus.
It rose either from the ground or from a very
low branch and flapped heavily and noisily up
into a pine. The dog pursued it at once and
it flew again as soon as he got beneath it
and before I could get a fair view of it,
showing a great spread of wing as it glided
off through the tree tops[.]
  Pat reports seeing three Quail this afternoon
running over the snow along the wood path
near Benson's landing. They are the first that
I have heard of hereabouts since the general
and almost total annihilation of these over
three or four winters ago but in other parts
of Concord as well as in Lincoln, Carlisle
and Acton the sportsmen have been finding
a good many this autumn.
  At about 9.00 this morning I counted 38 Crows
passing high over Ball's Hill towards the south
and evidently migrating.
  Musk rats houses are sprinkled thickly along the
river between here and town. I have never seen
them so numerous before and they are much
larger than usual. I should judge some of them
to be nearly six feet in height.