38
Concord, Mass.
1898.
April 1
  Clear and cold with strong N.W. wind. The ground
was frozen at sunrise and shallow ponds were skimmed over.
  At daybreak I heard Black Ducks quacking loudly
apparently very near the cabin but perhaps flying. Early
in the forenoon I started two from Holden's Meadow (flooded).
  As we were at breakfast the Sparrows similarly
engaged on the grass seed in front of our door. There
was a fine flock of them this morning composing
no less than sixteen Juncos, five or six Song Sparrows, three 
Tree Sparrows and two Fox Sparrows. The Juncos were
twittering and singing uttering a great variety of low
warbling and chuckling sounds interpolated between three repetitions
of the trill the whole reminding me forcibly of the
song of a singing mouse. Why is it that this song,
so infinitely superior to the summer trill, is heard
only in early spring?
  The Fox Sparrows were silent this morning and I
heard only one or two Tree Sparrows sing.
  As we were watching the animated and interesting
flock of sparrows & Juncos from our door they suddenly
scattered in every direction and at the same instant
a Shrike came dashing through the birches and alighted
on a branch of an oak not more than eight feet
from where we stood. It sat for a moment balancing
itself and jetting its tail looking keenly about.
Most of the sparrows had disappeared at the first
alarm but three or four Juncos had merely flown
up into the bushes where they remained apparently
not realizing the dangerous character of the Shrike.
[margin]A Shrike
disperses a
flock of
Sparrows[/margin]