49

1916.

73. Meadow Lark. Present in normal numbers throughout
most, if not all, its accustomed summer haunts. A [male] sang
freely through April & May, only occasionally & at morn & eve,
during the first half of June (silent after the 15th [June 15, 1916]), within ear range
of our house, usually in Lawrence's fields, sometimes closer at hand,
perhaps in the big elm or in one of the isolated apple trees across
the road. There was another frequenting Howe's pasture & the
Ritchie place.

74. Starling. Within the boundaries of our Farm I saw only
one Starling in April (on the 6th [April 6, 1916]) and never more than two birds
daily before May 28 [May 28, 1916]when a family party of six, four of which
were young just on wing & clamoring loudly for food supplied
incessantly by their parents, appeared in trees by the roadside.
These young were perhaps reared in a hollow apple tree in
the Abbott Lawrence orchard, where Mrs. Lawrence reports finding
a nest containing several blue eggs about the first of the month.
Another pair nested in a large shade tree close to the old Holden
house according to its present occupant, Mr. Howe. I saw
no Starlings in large flocks before July 7 [July 7, 1916] when upwards
of 40 that had apparently been feeding in our Cow pasture
came flying from it low over the orchard. The species is
said to have bred very commonly in and about Concord
Village this season.

75. Baltimore Oriole. Arrived in Concord village May 3 [May 3, 1916] (Dexter), at our
Farm on the 6th [May 6, 1916]. For the first time since I have been familiar with them
the elms about our dooryard sheltered no Oriole's nest this year although visited
daily by one or both of a pair of birds who hatched & reared their brood in
an elm near Lawrence house. Elsewhere throughout settled parts of Concord &
especially along its village streets the [they] bred in what seemed normal numbers.