Concord, Mass.
1901
Oct. 5
  Brilliantly clear with but little wind. Water is said
to have skimmed over last night but the nasturtiums & other
flowers at the farm show no signs of injury. The
mid-day hours were almost uncomfortably warm and
this evening the crickets were in full chirp again after
several nights of total silence. The maple foliage has
turned considerably these past few days but is not
as yet brilliant in many places.
  I saw comparatively few birds on my way to
the farm this morning. Evidently the bulk of those
northern immigrants which were here yesterday departed
last night while few if any others have taken their
places. I found a Canada Nuthatch in the pitch
pines on Pine Ridge. It is the first I have met
with this autumn but two were seen together in
Billerica last month by Walter Deane & H.G. Purdie.
Two Phoebes were singing near Bensen's house & and nearly
as well as in spring. Perhaps they were the same 
birds that I found at the farm yesterday.
  While I was standing among some gray birches
behind the farm this afternoon a Black-billed
Cuckoo alighted nearly over me. Its mouth
was half open and it panted as if oppressed by
the heat.
  There is a full crop of hickory nuts this
year and the Squirrels are busy with them just
now. I have never seen so many Chipmunks in
my woods before, nor more Red Squirrels, while Gray
Squirrels are more numerous than usual. All these
species swarm in the grove behind the barn at the farm.
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