Concord, Mass.
(Ball's Hill)
1900.
May 9
(No 2)
fifty eight species were noted. Most of the fresh arrivals
kept low down and were very conspicuous owing to the fact
that the trees and shrubs are still nearly or quite bare of
leaves. They (the birds) were also very tame and apparently
tired & somewhat listless although they sang freely through
most of the forenoon. Most of the species including the
Golden-winged, Prairie and Magnolia Warblers were seen
close to the cabin. They all frequented chiefly the small
oaks which are just beginning to unfold their leaves. It was
a pretty as well as unusual sight to see so many different
kinds on several occasions nearly all the eighteen species observed
were within sight or hearing at once.
  I spent the entire day in the woods. While marking
out a path behind the wood shed in the forenoon I
blazed a young pine which I wished to have cut down
striking it twice with a hatchet & with some force.
A few moments later I happened to look at its top
& there, to my surprise, was a Blue Jay's nest with
the tail of the sitting bird projecting over the rim.
When I moved off a little distance I could see her
head which was held with the bill pointing upward
at an angle of about 45 degrees. I cut down several 
small oaks close about the pine & afterwards
Mr. Purdie & I lunched at its base without
disturbing the bird although the nest was not
more than eight or nine feet above the ground.
This nest, like the one found at Davis's Hill the
other day, was in a comparatively open situation
the pine in each case being surrounded by leafless trees.
Nest of a
Blue Jay
61