Concord, Mass.
1902.
April 11
(No 2)
  The Phoebee at Ball's Hill appears to have
chosen the stone stable (built last autumn) as
his summer home but I do not think that
he has as yet secured a mate. He is, as I
have already noted, a cheerful and persistent
singer, more so, I think, than any of the other
birds in this neighborhood. The songs of different 
males of this species do not vary appreciably in
either form or tone. All of them have two notes
which are usually given alternatively - phoe-be-e?
(with rising inflection), phoe-ba (in lower key &
falling inflection). The first note is invariably of
three syllable, the middle one being the least conspicuous
& uttered in a rolling tone. Our cabin bird sometimes
repeats the second note three or four times in succession
before alternatively again.
  Three Partridges were drumming at the farm
to-day one near the head of the run, another
on the stone wall west of Pulpit Rock, the
third on the north side of Birch Field. I also
started a pair of birds from beneath a low spreading
apple tree near the middle of the orchard, this 
happening at about 9 A.M.
  Shortly after sunset, as I was nearing the
cabin, following the river path, I saw about 60 yds
ahead of me standing erect in the middle of this
path a fine cock Partridge. He had evidently
come down from the hill to drink for he was
on the very edge of the water which had partly
covered the path to-day. I stopped & watched
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