42
Concord, Mass.
1898
April 4
  Forenoon clear with warm sunshine which rapidly
melted the remaining snow. Afternoon cloudy. A
strong chilly W. wind all day.
  Watson left me last evening. I spent to-day
near the cabin preparing some beds for wild
flowers. It was a windy, birdless day & I
saw nothing of much interest excepting a
flock of eight Black Ducks twice, in the
early morning and again late in the afternoon,
both times flying past Ball's Hill.
  In the afternoon I also saw a small Hawk
which I took to be a Sharp-shin. It came
skimming over the crest of Ball's Hill and then,
inclining sharply downwards, swooped through
the oaks and directly past the cabin door.
Probably this was the bird that killed the
Junco yesterday. This tragedy has evidently frightened
the flock of sparrows badly for only a few
of them visited the seed bed during the day
although Gilbert saw eight Juncos, three or four
Song Sparrows and one Fox sparrow at the seeds
early in the morning.
  At evening a Bittern was pumping steadily
at the usual place in the south cove of the
Great Meadow. This is the first time I have
heard a Bittern since March 27th. I am
inclined to think that the bird heard on that
date passed on northward that night & that
the one noted this evening is a new comer.