Concord, Mass.
1901
June 23
  A hot and oppressing sultry day with light, variable
winds and a slight thunder shower later in the afternoon.
  The birds sang gloriously at sunrise and for an hour
or two later as well as fitfully through the afternoon. The
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks were in song all day and I have 
rarely heard them to better advantage, even on their arrival
in May. One near the cabin had a peculiarly rich, full
voice and his song was unusually smooth and finished 
in form. I listened to him a long time this evening
before I could make up my mind to leave him and 
resume my walk. I doubt if, on the whole, any bird
that breeds in this region gives us each season so much
delicious music as the Grosbeak. I have come to rate his
song as quite equal in quality to that of either the
Orchard Oriole or Fox Sparrow.
  A Wood Thrush paid us a brief visit this morning
singing for fifteen or twenty minutes very near the new
cabin. His voice was rather thin and broken.
  I doubt if a single young bird of any kind has been 
reared on Ball's Hill this season. The Jays take all the
eggs as soon as the sets are completed. Two of them made 
a raid through the woods immediately behind the cabins 
this morning uttering a series of low hac-hac-hacs as they
sailed from tree to tree or hopped through the branches
pausing under the clusters of leaves. They were closely
followed by a mob of indignant & excited little birds-
Redstarts, Red-eyed Vireos, Yellow Warblers etc. All the
nests that we have found have lost their eggs soon after 
they were laid. Among them have been two nests of the
Redstart, three of the Robin and one of the Red-eyed Vireo.