Lancaster, Mass.
1902.
May 21
  Brilliantly clear with light N.W. wind.
  Growing near together in a hollow in the cemetery
are three or four tall and exceptionally flourishing
balsam firs which seem to possess great attractions for
Warblers, Vireos, Finches & various other of the smaller
birds. I remember seeing in them last year among other
things a Bay-breasted and a Black & Yellow Warbler.
Visiting this morning I found them simply swarming
with little birds. Most of them were the common
kinds - Chippies, Purple Finches, Yellow Warblers, Orioles,
Goldfinches, Redstarts, etc. but among them I
presently discovered a Lincoln's Finch. For some
time he kept among the denser foliage at a height
of fully thirty-five feet above the ground but at
length he descended to a low branch along which he
hopped slowly picking rapidly at the bark as if he
found an abundance of food of some kind. He was
was one of the tamest birds of his kind that I
have ever seen. Indeed he scarcely seemed to notice me
at all even when I stood within two or three yards
of him & directly in the open.
Lincoln's Finch feeding in balsam.
  Mr Harrington tells me that Mr. John E. Thayer &
he found a Carolina Dove's nest in Lancaster last
Sunday (18th May). It was on the branch of a
pitch pine & contained two well-grown young. In
a sandy field a mile or two distant from the
place they started a flock of a dozen or more
of these Doves.
Early nesting of Carolina Dove
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