62
Concord, Mass.
1898.
April 24
  A dark, gloomy day with N.E. wind and
heavy rain. The river is all over the meadows
again and is still rapidly rising.
  Spent the forenoon setting out plants near
the cabin. Two White-throated Sparrows, both of
dingy-plumage, a few Robins, a pair of Pine
Warblers, a pair of five or six Yellow-rumps,
a Kingfisher, and about thirty Swallows, of
which four or five were Barn Swallows, were
in sight or hearing most of the time.
  In the afternoon walked to Prescott's pines
by way of Davis's Hill & back by the [?]
paths. Very few birds[.] Heard one Robin singing
and started two Hermit Thrushes. A Grass Finch
singing in the Mason field. Heard Partridges
drumming in three places - at the S. end of
Ball's Hill, at the N.E. end of Davis's swamp,
and at the south end of the Mason field.
All three birds drummed at short regular
intervals. It is evident that the Partridge
drums much more persistently in dark weather
when rain or snow is falling than at other
times.
  The mosses & lichens were surpassingly beautiful.
Vegetation advances slowly. I saw blood root and
Cassandra in bloom. The red maples are now at
their prime & the big swamps blushed with their
salmon-pink blossoms. Shad bush not yet out.