Concord, Mass.
1902.
Oct. 18
(No 2)
  The most interesting and unexpected bird noted to-day
was a Red-eyed Vireo which I found just before noon
in a large oak just across the road from the farm house.
He remained in this tree for ten or fifteen minutes & I
was much interested in watching his behavior which was to
some extent peculiar. He seemed to find an abundance of
food on the under sides of the oak leaves and his method
of obtaining it was to launch out and flutter for a
moment under the leaf & then drop rather heavily to a
branch beneath. Of course I have seen Red-eyes do this
before but seldom so persistently & continuously. There were
several Yellow-rumps near at hand but never in the oak.
  As I was on my way back to the cabin at evening,
following the path through Prescott's pines, an Owl hooted
once very near at hand fairly startling me. His voice
was that of a Bubo but his notes were unusual in number
& arrangement; thus: - Hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo; hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo.
It is also remarkable that he should have hooted only once
I waited a long time hoping he would repeat his outcry but
heard only the soughing of the night wind in the pines.
  Raymond Emerson tells me that a Concord man
named William Gibbs found a Black Duck's nest at
Goose Pond last spring. There were eight eggs which he
took & brought to town. Samuel Hoar Jr. took four of
them & Dr. Titcomb's son the other four. All were
hatched successfully under hens & the young birds are all
alive & now fully grown. Raymond saw the four
belonging to young Hoar only a few days ago. He also
says that some boys whom he knows found a large
brood of small ducklings swimming in the river at Fairhaven
a year ago last spring. They called them Black Ducks.
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