29
Concord, Mass.
1898.
March 24                   
  Forenoon sunny but cool; afternoon overcast with chill
S. wind.
  I spent last night at the cabin and early this
morning was delighted to hear a Fox Sparrow singing.
He did not really "let himself out" but soon after
breakfast I heard a bird, probably the same individual,
in full song in the swamp behind Ball's Hill.
  Spent the forenoon clearing out the path behind
the hill, Gilbert helping me. In the afternoon
took a walk to Davis's Hill, starting two Partridges.
The wood Frogs were making a great clamor in
one of the little ponds and in another (the one
at the northern base of Ball's Hill) Gilbert called
my attention to a small Snapping Turtle of the
large kind which was clinging to the stems of
some submerged bushes with its snout just out of
water. When I threw a stick into the water near 
it it drew down its head and gradually sank
out of sight moving so slowly that it was difficult
to see that it moved at all.
  For several nights past we have heard some animal
gallops across the tin roof of the cabin at about
eight o'clock. I have suspected from the first that
it was a Flying Squirrel and I became convinced
of this last night when I distinctly heard it
strike with a thump against the top log before
beginning its usual race on the tin.
  Returned to Concord late this afternoon under sail.