24
Concord, Mass.
1897
April 10
  Cloudy and calm all day.
  H. M. Spelman joined me yesterday afternoon and
we spent the night together at the cabin. Nothing singing
near the cabin this morning excepting the Phoebe, Song Sparrows
and Red-wings. After breakfast we walked to the Mason field
and back through the woods. A Dove cooing at short, regular
intervals in Prescott's pines its voice very solemn & impressive
in the still air coming from the depths of the woods.
Two Pine Warblers in full song on Davis's Hill. A Goosander
swimming about in front of the cabin this morning and
a Pied-billed Grebe in the same place later this afternoon.
  Mrs. Spelman arrived about noon and in the afternoon
she and her husband walked to the Mason field and
beyond starting a pair of Doves and three Partridges.
" [April] 11
  Cloudy and calm the sky clearing & the sun coming out
about 5 P.M. flooding the landscape with strong, pure light.
  We all slept in the cabin last night, the Spelmans
occupying the upper chamber. The chilly, cloudy morning
evidently depressed the birds for there was but little early
morning singing. We took several short walks finding the
feathers of a Partridge, which had evidently been plucked
by a Hawk, on the edge of the swamp behind Ball's Hill and
seeing a fine Osprey which alighted in an oak on Davis's Hill.
At sunset I started for Concord (the Spelmans left by the
4.10 P.M. train) sailing across the meadows which have been
again flooded by the recent rains. A Great Blue Heron passed
me flying down river. Spelman saw three of these Herons together yesterday.