Concord, Mass.
1901.
Oct. 16
  Brilliantly clear with light, soft S.W. wind.
The air was dry and bracing yet so warm at noon day
that it was almost uncomfortable to sit in the sun.
Tree crickets were chirping late in the afternoon.
A heavy rain on the 14th followed by a high N.W.
wind yesterday has stripped most of the foliage from
the red maples and the first stage of brilliant autumn
coloring has passed.
  At sunrise this morning and for nearly two
hours later a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks were
screaming on the W. Bedford edge of the meadows
opposite Ball's Hill and at half-past-eight I heard
two others (they may have been the same) opposite
Davis's Hill and saw one of them perched in a
nearly leafless elm. As I paddled down river I
saw numbers of Swamp Sparrow and heard our
Song Sparrow sing once in full, finished tones quite
as in spring.
  In Birch Field I found two Yellow Red-poll
Warblers. At the farm there were Robins & a Flicker
in the orchard, a dozen Bluebirds accompanied by
as many Chippies flitting about in Lawrence's field,
A Nuthatch & a Creeper in the elms near the house,
and Yellow-rumps scattered about everywhere.
  The men while casting away a large pile of gravel
that has not been disturbed since last spring came
on a Chipmunks stone house at a depth of about
three feet below the surface. It was a nearly circular
chamber about 10 inches across by three inches in
height & was crammed full of green sweet corn
and shelled or rather husked hickory nuts.
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