Concord, Mass.
1902.
Oct. 18
  Cloudy & mild with light S.E. wind and a brief drizzle
of rain in the early morning. Clear & cold last night with a
nearly if not quite full moon.
  A heavy flight of small birds must have arrived last
night for the country was swarming with them to-day. By
far the greater number were Yellow-rumps of which I must
have seen fully 75. They were especially numerous in gray birch
thickets and in the orchard at the farm. At one time a dozen
or more were fitting close about the farm house several of them
clinging to the eaves & one exploring the crevices between the slats
of the blinds. Why do they do this only in autumn.
  Juncos were also abundant - for the first time this autumn.
Most of them were feeding in the tops & upper branches of
gray birches.
  Fully 50 Robins were assembled in the field opposite
the farm house where the chief attraction appeared to be
a cluster of black alders covered with berries on which they were
feeding. Some of the males (all young birds I thought) sang
rather freely but in subdued, almost whispering, tones. A Purple
Finch was also singing softly at the same time & place.
  Four Bronzed Grackles appeared in this field about noon,
alighting in the top of an apple & remaining there
Chippies there besides a Downy & two White-breasted
Nuthatches. In Prescott's Pines I came upon a Hermit
Thrush. There was a Dipper (P. podiceps) floating on the
calm river opposite the cabin this morning. Gilbert tells me
that he saw him there yesterday also.
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