Concord, Mass.
1899.
April 24
  Clear and very warm with fresh S.E. wind. Ther. [thermometer] 54 [degrees] at 6  A.M.
64 [degrees] at 4 P.M.
  Spent the forenoon at Ball's Hill. In the afternoon went
to the Barrett farm - by canoe as far as Davis's Hill.
  Early this morning a pair of black Ducks and a little later 
a single bird passed the hill flying high in a southerly 
direction. Surely these must be local birds.
[margin]Black Ducks[/margin]
 About 8 A.M. a [female] Pine Warbler made several visits
to the cabin in search of nesting material. She tugged
persistently but ineffectually at some twine which was
tied to an oak and picked up and carried off a
little oakum from the calking of our log walls. She
flew to the crest of the hill, where the [male] was singing
as usual. The same thing occurred last spring at
about this time. Apparently the [male]Pine Warbler does
not accompany his mate when she is looking for
nesting material.
[margin]Pine Warbler
building
nest[/margin]
  A Hermit Thrush was singing gloriously but sotto voce
in a dense thicket of young white pines on the
Barrett farm this afternoon. Rarely have I heard [such] a
fine performance although at a distance of thirty yards
I could only just hear the lower notes. I estimated the
distance of the bird's chuck for I did not see him
in the little opening where I was standing a pair 
of Antiopa Butterflies were toying with one another
in the warm sunshine.
[margin]Hermit Thrush
singing in
Barrett woods[/margin]
52