307
Concord, Mass.
1898.
November 26
  I went to Cambridge on the 23rd and returned
to the cabin last evening. Up to yesterday the
season had continued remarkably mild & open with
no snows whatever and few frosts hard enough to
stiffen the ground while in the still grown fields
butterflies have been flitting about & crickets chirping
up to within two or three days whenever the sun
shone warmly.
  The change from autumn to winter came last
night when the thermometer fell to about 20 [degrees].
At daybreak this morning the meadows, now covered
two or three feet deep with water, were frozen almost
thickly enough to bear a man's weight and the open
water in the river steamed in the sharp, biting air.
Just as the sun was rising a flock of five Sheldrake
came swimming past the cabin following the edge
of the ice on the farther side of the river, moving
very fast and diving, sometimes all practically at
once, but oftener one immediately after another in
quick succession, each bird springing quite clear of the
water as it took its downward plunge. They reminded
me forcibly of a school of Porpoises as they appeared
and disappeared making the calm water flash and
sparkle in the sunlight. Apparently they had ill success
with their fishing for after they had passed the cabin
they all took wing and went off over the farm
meadows towards the S.W.
[margin]Gooseanders 
in the river
oppsite
Ball's Hill.[/margin]
  A few minutes later a Carolina Greebe came swimming
down river skirting the cabin shore closely and even
entering the thicket of submerged bushes directly in front
of the open door at which I was standing. I stepped
[margin]Pied billed
Greebe.[/margin]