Concord, Mass.
1903.
October &
November
(No 6)
  The flight of Woodcock is reported to have been much heavier
this autumn, throughout eastern Massachusetts, than it has been
for many years. Thrice at evening, as twilight was deepening into
night, I heard the whistle of a Woodcock's wings near the game house.
On two occasions the bird was evidently flying over the orchard
below the barn, on the third he rose in the woods behind
the Ritchie place. On October Mr. J. W. Long started seven Woodcock
in Carlisle.
  Judging by the amount of firing which we heard on the
river meadows the flight of Wilson's Snipe was lighter than
usual although the grounds were in fair conditions at least where the
grass had been cut which was over only a limited extent of these meadows.
I heard Snipe "scaiping" on several occasion when I happened to be
at Ball's Hill at evening but never more than one or two birds on any
single occasion.
  Partridges are reported to have been exceedingly scarce throughout
Massachusetts this autumn & the gunners tell me that all killed by
them have been old birds. Seven or eight which were frequently seen together
in the woods behind the Ritchie place in August and September must
have been members of one family but this is the only brood which we
feel sure was reared on my land the past summer. Bensen reports
seeing 13 Partridges breeding one evening in a wild apple tree on the
farm but he is not always reliable in respect to such matters.
Forbush has found the birds scarce the whole autumn & I
have rarely seen more than two or three in one day. Most of
these have been started in Barrett Run & Pulpit Rock woods
but Forbush has seen one frequently near the cabin at Ball's Hill
& on one occasion I started two in the woods across the river. A bird has
drummed frequently by day & through one entire moonlight night on the wall at
the foot of Barrett Run. The drummer at Ball's Hill has been heard only once this autumn.