Concord, Mass.
1911.
April 9
(No 2)
[April 9, 1911]

Walk to Ball's Hill
Hermit Thrushes.
Phoebees [Phoebes]
First Swamp Sp. [Swamp Sparrow]
Redpolls.
Goldfinch
Marsh H. [Marsh Hawk]
Greebes [Grebes].
Fox Sparrows
Partridges

  In the afternoon I went to Ball's Hill via Davis Hill
returning via Holden's Hill & Howe's pastures. The snow was
ankle deep in the woods & half that in open fields. Many of
the trees, especially pines, were still draped with it. I saw or
heard Fox Sparrows everywhere & Robins in many places.
Met with 8 Hermit thrushes 6 of them along the edge of the
river hopping about on the ground within a foot or two of
the water. There were 5 Phoebees [Phoebes] in the Barrett Meadow
perched on bushes or weed stalks over shallow water to which
they kept flying down apparently to pick up floating insects.
The afternoon sun lay warm here & there there was no wind.
The brush along the water was alive with Song Sparrows &
in it I saw one Swamp Sparrow, a tame dull-plumaged 
bird with brownish crown. At Bensen's Knoll I noted 16
Redpolls feeding in the top of a gray birch. A solitary
Goldfinch perched on a weed stalk in the meadow showed 
several patches of bright yellow feathers & some black
about the head, being already in transition between winter
& summer dress. A [male] Marsh Hawk was flying about
over great Meadows and a Pied-billed Grebe swimming 
in the river at the foot of Beaver Dam Rapid. Two 
Red-wings only were singing in the meadows but I
saw half a dozen Rusty Blackbirds walking about on
a grassy stretch on the edge of the water. On the
way home I kept starting Fox sparrows in almost every 
thicket. Sometimes a dozen or more would rise all
at once from the ground with a rather loud whistling
sound like a bevy of quail. In the Barrett Run
"Larry" flushed two Partridges. One of them treed in
an oak & sat staring at me only 30 yds. off with neck
stretched up. Altogether it was a delightfully interesting
walk.