45

1916.

67. Towhee. First noted on May 6 [May 6, 1916] when a pair spent the day in a thicket
at the rear of our barn. During the remainder of that month and almost
to the close of June a [male] sang regularly in Birch Field and another among
oak scrub on a ridge south of the Run while a third, sometimes accompanied
by his mate, was seen or heard not infrequently in Cedar Park. All three
birds presumably nested where they were constantly to be found. Elsewhere
I met with the species only along the old Bigelow Road where two birds
were heard calling on May 28 [May 28, 1916].

68. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. The Misses Eaton saw a [male] Grosbeak near their house
in Concord village on May 2 [May 2, 1916]. The species was first noted by me at our Farm
on the 8th [May 8, 1916] when a [male] was heard singing in the Berry Pasture. It was probably
this self-same bird that remained in our neighborhood during the entire season
delighting me constantly with his rich, flowing song coming by turns from orchard
or shade trees close about the house, from those along the lane, from woods
or thickets in the Run and in the Berry Pasture. On May 22 [May 22, 1916] he was seen in
the orchard accompanied by a mate. No doubt the pair bred somewhere in or
near it but if so their nest escaped my notice. Two males sang there daily, not
far apart, from May 24 to 28. I heard one in Birch Field on the 18th of May [May 18, 1916]
and another at Balls Hill [Ball's Hill] on June 15 [June 15, 1916]. Thus, during the present breeding
season, the species occurred as commonly in our neighborhood as it has
within any very recent year although much less so than in the now rather
remote past when it used to be found so numerously in summer,
especially on the wooded ridges stretching along the river from Holden's to
Davis's Hills. Our Farm bird continued in full song up to the middle
of June and later was heard singing rather freely on the 29th [June 29, 1916] of that
month while he sang twice loudly & well at 10 A.M. on July 8 [July 8, 1916].

69. Indigo Bird. Arrived May 10 [May 10, 1916]. Later in the month and through June we
had the usual number of birds, occupying their accustomed stations, ie one near
our house, another at the Ritchie place, a third just across the wall at N. W. [northwest] corner
of Birch Field.