Concord, Mass.
1906
July 14
  Clear with light, cool E. wind.
  On reaching Concord this afternoon I heard
from Forbush that the Red-wings had established
a large roost in the meadows near Beaver Dam Rapid.
He first noted them assembling here on Jul 9th
when he estimated the number of birds at about 200.
I visited the roost this evening shortly after sunset
in my canoe. Blackbirds, coming from the eastward in
small flocks kept passing me as I paddled up the
reach opposite Ball's Hill. When I got to the foot of
the rapid I saw them settling among the wild rice,
sweet flags and blue-joint (Canary grass) that covers the
little island and the low-lying strip of marsh behind it
on the Barrett Meadow. There was a good deal of
calling (cha-cha) on the part of the young and of
singing on that of the adult males but the total amount
of noise did not indicate a very large assemblage of birds.
Indeed I was quite unprepared for the clouds of them that
rose with a sound of wings like that of a gale of wind
blowing through pine trees when I rapped the sides of the
canoe lightly with the paddle. They went off in three
successive flocks each of which I feel sure contained more
than 100 birds and flying low across the river settled
again in the reeds about the big lagoon. For some time
after this small flocks were continually arriving, chiefly from
the eastwards. It was an easy matter to count the
numbers of these with approximate accuracy and I noted
250 in the course of the next fifteen minutes. Most
of them went directly to the lagoon which I suspect is
the their real roosting place. Assuming that there were