64
Concord, Mass.
1898.
April 26
  Forenoon cloudy with light showers ; after noon clear.
A strong and very cold N.E. wind blowing all day.
  Spent most of the day working near the cabin.
The weather through the forenoon was exceedingly
disagreeable and the birds were remarkably silent.
A few Yellow-rumps, a Pine Warbler, a Chippy, two
or three Robins and two White-throated Sparrows hung
about under the shelter of the hill near the cabin.
Over the river thirty or forty Swallows were drifting
to and fro skimming close to the water.
  At about 6 P.M. I came upon a meadow Mouse
that was feeding by the side of the river path near
the cabin. It was scarce six feet away when I saw it
and stopped to watch it. It was eating the fresh green
blades of one of the common cultivated grasses. These
blades were three or four inches in length. It nipped
them off near the ground and beginning at the bases
worked them into its mouth quite evenly and rapidly
chewing them and drawing them in wholly by the use
of its teeth. It was a remarkably neat, pretty animal
with dense, glossy fur. Its shape & motions reminded me
strongly of those of a Muskrat. After I had watched 
it for fully ten minutes it took alarm at something
and darted into a runway a few feet off. 
  Walked to the Blakemore woods at evening. The
flooded swamps ringing with Hylas voices. Three or
four Swamp Sparrows singing. A Snipe drumming
and two Great Blue Herons hainking[.]