Middlesex Co., Mass. [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
1874
me of the correctness of the impression and
I was delighted to have at last solved
the mystery. I also had a great treat
in the song of a [male] Regulus calendula which
although not so finished as the spring
note was decidedly sweeter & richer in
it's varied warblings. Heard a Sitta Canadensis
the first since Sept.
  Oct. 20 [October 20, 1874] Clear and cold, water freezing to the thickness
of window glass. Rose at 6 and taking
a light breakfast of graham bread with
a cup of tea, started for the meadows. In
the brickyard swamps put up two
(2) rails (Rallus Virginianus) and 1 snipe
and killed them all the first rise.
On the upper meadows did not succeed
in finding a single bird though Shot
"drew" continually and droppings, many of
them quite fresh, even in abundance.
A young man whom I met had been
over the meadow yesterday morning
without seeing any birds though he had
noticed abundance of "signs". On the 15
he put up 13 snipe & on each of the two following
days 6 respectively. Saw the first Curvirostra
Americana, a flock of 10. Also in the
pine swamps saw a Picus villosus &
a Sphyrapicus varius both of which were
very shy. Took a Trog. hyemalis [Troglodytes hyemalis] & a [female]
Regulus calendula and saw several others
of both species, also an Aegelaius phoeniceus [Agelaius phoeniceus]
apparently a male in full plumage. Chry.
pinus [Chrysomitris pinus] is now very abundant & a single