Concord, Massachusetts
1903
May 3
  Cloudy with chill N.E. wind.
  Came to Concord this morning with a party of friends.
Crossed the river to Ball's Hill where we dined at the cabin.
In the afternoon we walked to the farm and back. Saw
very few birds & heard still fewer. There were five or six
Yellow-rumps, two Yellow Palm Warblers and a Black-throated
Green Warbler among some alders near the larch plantation.
At least thirty Chimney Swifts, four or five Barn Swallows
and one Eave Swallow or two were flying just above
the tops of the oaks & pines on Ball's Hill in the
late afternoon. Saw a Fish Hawk about noon flying
rather high over the Hill towards the south and a Black
Duck passing the same point in the same direction
just before sunset.
  Gilbert tells me that the Phoebes nest in the stone
horse shed had four eggs yesterday. There is another nest
he says in the wood shed at Pine Park plastered against
the smooth vertical face of a rafter without any support
whatever. This nest was empty but finished yesterday.
The birds have never nested here before. I suspect that
they are the pair that has been accustomed to breed
at Bensen's. The pair at the stone boat house worked
a little on their last year's nest which is on a fig
inside the house & then began building outside on the projecting stones just under the roof. They have
deposited material in two places on these stones but
have not completed a nest as yet.
  Vegetation is far advanced. Some of the apple trees are
in full bloom (R Hayward saw blossoms open at Milton on
April 30) and most of the shad bushes have shed their blossoms