Concord, Mass.
1910
May 21
[May 21, 1910]

Arrivals
Orioles nesting at Farm

  Cloudy with light southerly to easterly winds & incessant misty rain.
  Arrivals Water Thrush 3 [in full song]; Lincoln's Finch (?) 1 [in full song]. No other North bound
migrants of any kind seen or heard. I had expected a
big bird wave to-day following the warm weather yesterday (last
night was very warm) but it did not come.
  No less than three pairs of Orioles are building in the elms
on the Farm, a number never before equaled, I think, since I
have owned the place. One nest (found to-day) is in an elm
in front of the Bungalow at the back end of the garden, another
in the young elms just at the rear of the house, the third in
the big drooping elm in our door yard (about 20 yards from
the second nest and 100 yards from the first.) The first two
nests were begun, I should judge, on the 19th. I saw the bird
begin the the third yesterday morning about 8 o'clock. As I was
standing under the tree she came with a single strand (it
looked like a strand of weed fibre) and looped it between two
twigs not five feet above my head. I could see distinctly that
it was the very first. The bird knotted one end about the twig
& pulled at it long & hard several times, then secured the other end in
the same way. She worked at least 5 minutes before she seemed satisfied.
It was most interesting to see her push & draw the end under & over the strand & twig.