4
Cambridge, Massachusetts
1897
January 31
  A remarkable day, cloudless and absolutely calm from daybreak
to dusk, the air singularly clear, the sunlight exceptionally
brilliant. Ther 8 [degrees] at 7 a.m., 28 [degrees] at 2.30 p.m.
[margin]A winter
morning in the Maple
Swamp[/margin]
  Spent the forenoon in the Maple Swamp with my camera,
driving up at 9 A.M., walking back in time for dinner
at 1 P.M. It would [be] difficult to conceive of a more
perfect day. The air was cold and biting early but by
10 A.M. the snow was melting in southern exposures and
the rays of the sun were almost uncomfortably warm.
I found the snow knee deep where it had not drifted
and waist deep in the drifts. The bushes were loaded 
down with it and the trunks of the trees encrusted on 
their north-east sides. It was dry powdery snow &
brilliantly pure & sparkling everywhere back from the roads.
  I saw the following birds, all in the Maple Swamp:
Chickadees - two; Pine Siskins - a flock of ten; Goldfinches - heard;
Song Sparrows - two; Tree Sparrows - two; English sparrows - three or four
Crows - two; Red-shouldered Hawk - one screaming at intervals
for upwards of an hour near Alewife Brook.
  The Siskins were feeding on alder seeds, clustering in the top
of a single bush and working many minutes at a time before
changing to another place. I met with the same flock twice
in different parts of the swamp.
  I was disappointed in the signs of small mammals, seeing
less than a dozen mouse trails in all & what looked like
the track of a weasel. Lieut Robinson says that he started
a Cotton-tail Rabbit in this swamp about a month ago & the 
old Frog Catcher with whom I had a word or two today
told me that he had seen their signs within a week but I
could find no traces of their presence.
[delete]The Maple swamp[/delete]