1906.
June 2
  Clear and warm with light S.W. wind.
  Heard a Quail near my stone boat house opposite Ball's Hill
this afternoon. About the same time Forbush who was
at the farm saw a male on the wall by the well in front
of the old house. Both birds gave the "scatter call" only.
  At Ball's Hill about 1.30 P.M. I found in the
cart path near the big oak a decapitated Rabbit. Its
head had been severed from the neck as clearly as it
cut off by an axe & no trace of it could be found.
The deed must have been committed to-day & I think
the Rabbit had not been dead for more than half an
hour for its body was still limp and the blood on
the severed neck had not dried. I think I found a
Rabbit last year that had been killed in the same way
& that at the time I referred the deed to a Fox.
The Rabbit found to-day was a pregnant female with
young almost ready for birth.
  I spent some time this evening watching the pair of
Crested Flycatchers that are frequenting our orchard again for
the twelfth or fifteenth year at least. They have bred
in at least three different trees during this period. This evening
the female flew to the hole in which young were reared two
years ago & perching near it remained on the same twig
for many minutes. At length I looked away for an instant
during which the bird disappeared, I think into the hole.
Both sexes appear to use the same calls & to be equally noisy.
I am not sure however, that the female gives the long, rolling call.
The Crested Flycatcher has a habit of rolling the head slowly
almost exactly like a Vireo. It also hops from twig to twig
without using its wings much oftener than do most Flycatchers.