33
Concord, Mass.
1898.
March 28
  Another gray day with feeble sunshine at times.
Forenoon calm and rather sultry. A chilly S.E. wind
in the afternoon.
  To Ball's Hill at 9 A/M. paddling down. The morning
was calm and mild and the birds were singing freely
and in unusual numbers. Besides the regular March
species I heard a Grass Finch in full song on
Ripley's Hill.. The White-bellied Swallows were flying
about among and alighting on, the shrubs just above
the Holt.
  Spent most of the day in the woods going as far 
north as the Mason field. Saw but few birds excepting
near the cabin where four Fox Sparrows, five or six 
Song Sparrows, the [male] Downy Woodpecker and a pair
of Chickadees visited the food that we keep out
for them. A flock of fully sixty Red-wings flew
over the hill in the afternoon and Crows were cawing
all day in the pines. Blue Jays are exceptionally scarce
in this neighbourhood. I believe that only the winter 
residents of this species are here now.
  Sailed home late in the afternoon starting four
Black Ducks from the Great Meadow just above Hunt's
Pond & hearing a full chorus of Red-wings & Song
Sparrows with Meadow Larks & Robins as I neared
the town. I see four or five Muskrats every
morning but none below Hunt's Pond.