11
Concord, Mass.
1898.
March 15
  Cloudless with light N. to N.E. wind - a brilliant
day deliriously warm in the sun at noon.
  I moved to Concord this morning taking Gilbert
with me. When we reached the Keyes' (where I am
to spend the next two weeks) I found Bluebirds,
Robins, Song Sparrows, [and] Red-winged Blackbirds close
about the house. As we were taking lunch a Nuthatch
and a Downy came to feed on the meat kept for
them in the cherry tree and just after lunch the
Downy was drumming at his old station in the elms.
  We put the new canoe in the water and as it
did not leak a drop I went to Ball's Hill in it
in the afternoon, Gilbert & Pat preceding me in
the old Butterick boat. The river was very high
and it has been so far two weeks or more. It
opened about the 7th and Pat tells me that
the muskrat hunters began the usual slaughter at
about that time & that they have since killed
nearly all the "Rats". On the morning of the 10th
Pat saw a flock of over 100 Gooseanders in the
river directly in front of the cabin. They were
making a noise like the croaking of frogs.
  I saw no Ducks to-day but the bushy banks
of the river meadows were alive with Song Sparrows
and I should think that fully one-half of the
Red-wings have arrived. I heard two Bluebirds
warbling and saw a pair of them near Flint's bridge. 
I started back at 4 P.M. Red-wings singing
freely but the Robins were silent.