104
Concord, Mass.
1898.
May 20
(No 2)                     
  On the south side of Ball's Hill a [female] Grosbeak
was at work on her nest which she had only 
just begun. It was in a very unusual situation
about 30 ft. above the ground near the extremity of
a long, horizontal branch of a white pine in
the middle of a dense cluster green needles.
The bird was collecting long, slender dead twigs.
Then she broke off the ends of the branches flying
upward, seizing them in her bill, then dropping
backwards & utilizing her might precisely as the
Trogons do when pecking off berries in Trinidad.
She appeared to prefer the twigs of the
high blueberry. Not once did she get any
material from the ground. The [male] did not
offer her any assistance bu the sang g[?]ly 
in an oak near the pine all the time 
she was at work. 
  For my walk this evening I chose the
oak-clad ridges of the Blakeman woods. Oven
birds and Scarlet tanagers were singing on the
high ground, Wilson's Thrushes, Maryland Yellow-throats
and a Grosbeak in the swamps below.
  In the distance towards Dakin's Hill I heard
a Quail whistling. The toads were out in
great numbers and the the Hylas added their
voices to the chorus. To the westward, on
the Great Meadows, a Bittern was pumping
and two Carolina Rails singing. 
  I found several ladies' slippers in full
bloom on the summit of this ridge.