1906
Oct 7
  Brilliantly clear with cold & very strong N.W. wind.
  Birds appeared to be comparatively scarce yesterday and
I saw still fewer today. The flight of Black-polls is
evidently nearly over. They have been exceptionally abundant
this autumn.
  As I was standing in the door yard at the farm about
sunset a White-breasted Nuthatch flew into the elm at the
east end of the shed and immediately entered a hole in the
under side of a dead branch which was used as a sleeping chamber
by a Downy Woodpecker early last spring. That the Nuthatch
spent the night there on the present occasion I do not doubt.
It entered the hole very quickly as if in the habit of frequenting
it.
  While on my way back to Ball's Hill I had an
interesting experience with a Fox. I was walking rapidly along the
wooded road that leads from the brick school house to Bensen's when
I heard an outburst of loud, shrill squeaks, very near at hand. They
seemed to come from the pasture on my right but although
the ground beyond the wall that bordered the road was perfectly
open grassy sward I could see nothing there at first. Indeed the
outburst had been thrice reported before I made out, through the
thin screen of bushes that lined the wall the form of a remarkably
large & exceedingly gaunt Fox, crouching in the short cropped grass
near a large boulder & scarce ten yards from me. The next
instant he sprang high into the air & as he descended thrust his
sharp muzzle into a hole in the turf. Just as he did so
the squeaking sounds again came to my ears. He then drew back
a few feet & turned his head away from the hole. These manoeuvres
were repeated several times. Finally he drew his head out and