17
Concord, Mass.
1897
April 1-5
(No.4)
  On the afternoon of the 4th I started a very
blue-backed male Cooper's Hawk from an oak near
Bensen's landing. Crossing the open field it disappeared
among the pines on the crest of Ball's Hill. Returning
the same way fully an hour later I flushed a
large cock Partridge which also flew towards the
pines just mentioned. Less than a minute after it
had passed beyond my sight it reappeared coming
directly back over my head with the Cooper's Hawk
in hot pursuit but fully one hundred yards in
the rear. The Partridge went fully three yards to
the Hawk's over and had disappeared in the woods
towards Holden's Hill before the Hawk came to where
I was standing but the latter bird kept steadily
on its track like a hound on a keen scent and
I noticed that when it came to a certain tree top
around which the Partridge had arrived sharply
it took exactly the same cover. I do not believe,
however, that it caught the Partridge.
[margin]Accipiter 
cooperii chases a 
Partridge[/margin]
  The song of Tree Sparrows had been constantly
ringing in my ears the past few days. Despite its
exquisite melody it goes ill with these surroundings. If
I close my eyes while listening it can at once transported
to the far north and by the slightest effort of the
imagination can see about me the wide, barren tundra, half
shrouded in sea fog, carpeted with grey mosses and
dotted with clusters of stunted spruces. Such a wild,
plaintive voice has no place in these soft meadows
and half-cultivated woodlands. Alas! I fear it
will not be heard here many days longer.
[margin]Songs of
Spizella
monticola[/margin]