Dublin, N. H.
1902.
June 8
  Forenoon cloudy and rather sultry with a violent
shower just before noon. Afternoon cloudy clearing at
sunset with a strong, cold north-west wind. It seemed
and indeed felt like an October evening. My hands were
actually cold "finger cold" as Thoreau called it.
  John E. Thayer and I went to Dublin from
Lancaster yesterday afternoon to spend to-day (Sunday)
with Abbott H. Thayer who had invited us for the
express purpose of seeing a Pileated Woodpecker's nest
which he and his son, Gerald, had found in the
wooded basin at the northern base of Mt. Monadnock
on May 18th. We visited it this morning (or rather forenoon).
Passing through a hilly pasture and thence following
a wood road bordered by dense young spruces we finally
came to an extensive tract (hundreds of acres certainly)
of primitive forest composed chiefly of hemlocks, red
spruces, birches, basswoods and sugar maples. Most
of the hemlocks were of the very largest size while
some of the spruces and yellow birches quite equaled
the finest specimens at Lake Umbagog. Leaving the
path and descending a slight slope we came to a
brook whose course was heavily shaded by mountain
maples in full blossom. On its further bank stood
a yellow birch stub about seventy feet in height and
perhaps 2.5 feet in diameter near the base, far
advanced in decay yet still covered from top to bottom
with the rough grayish bark characteristic of large
trees of this species and usually persisting after death
until they fall or are blown down by a high wind.
All the branches had long since disappeared but there
6.