26
Concord, Mass.
1898.
March 21
  A gray day with occasional brief intervals of
sunshine and a light N.W. wind. The temperature
has been milk & remarkably uniform for the
past week although the 18th was warmer than any
of the days that preceded or followed it.
  To Ball's Hill by canoe at 9 A.M. sailing most of the way.
Spent forenoon at the cabin. Will Bartlett came
down soon after dinner and we took a walk together. 
Birds were silent and inconspicuous. We started two
Partridges, a [male] and [female], near Davis' Hill.
  As we were crossing Bensen's pasture we saw a 
Shrike perched on our apple tree. A moment later
he started and flew directly towards us skimming close
over the ground. When within a few rods he checked
his speed evidently with intention of alighting but
at the same instant a large insect, probably a beetle,
and no doubt the object that had attracted his attention,
rose in a spiral [delete]course[/delete] to a height of three or four
feet when it was caught by the shrike who followed
its course with remarkable accuracy and overtook and
seized it with the greatest apparent ease bearing it
off in his bill to a fence post near at hand.
  A dozen or more Hylas were peeping in Davis's swamp
this afternoon and I also heard a Wood Frog apparently
in the river. 
[margin]First
Wood Frog[/margin]
  At 5 P.M. a Great Horned Owl began hooting in the
direction of Prescott's pine keeping it up for 10 or 15 minutes.