342
Concord, Mass. [Massachusetts]
1897.
Nov. 20
(No 4)
  Later in the afternoon as I was standing under
a green and white dome of pine foliage in the rear 
of Ball's Hill I heard the call of a Robin. I
at once stepped out into the open & looked up
hoping to get a sight at the bird. I saw instead
a swarm of Black Ducks flying northward.
Gilbert who was near me at the time counted them
twice making the number 33. I got only one 
count & made it 34. No doubt he was right. The
birds presently returned & circled over Holden's
meadow then passed out of our sight towards
the South. Migrating Black Ducks nearly always
go directly south past here in autumn & due
north in spring.
  A week or more ago, we found one morning
in the path directly in front of the cabin a
hole which at first I supposed had been made
by a Chipmunk from the fact that no dirt
whatever had been thrown out. Yesterday there
was a second hole a few feet from the first
which had been nearly closed up in the night.
Both holes went straight down for about two
feet & then turned off at a high angle. This
morning I went to the spot the first thing &
found the trail of a Field Mouse leading from
the second hole in various directions. In places
the creature had run over the surface of
the snow, in others it had tunnelled under 
it. I did not before know that the Field Mouse
shared with the Chipmunk the secret of making a
burrow without leaving any of the dirt about.