Middlesex Co., Mass. [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
1875
Feb. 26 [February 26, 1875]
which came cutting across a small
expanse of open water under the shadow
of a large willow tree. Thinking it
a mink I remained motionless until
it with some difficulty crawled out upon
the ice which margined the shore, and
within gunshot of my position, when
I discovered much to my surprise that
my mink was nothing else than a 
large star nosed mole (Condylura cristata)
which had probably been drowned out of
his subterranean abode, and in the
full blaze of the midday sun was con-
fusedly seeking another congenial retreat.
After watching it for a few moments
I fired and shot it. Fired only one
other shot during the forenoon - at a
flock of Plec. nivalis [Plectrophenax nivalis] of which I knocked 
over four. They were feeding in the furrows
of a ploughed field and it was interesting
to see them peep at me over the ridge
of a furrow then withdraw from sight
behind its protecting walls and the
next instant appear again perhaps 20 yds.
off. Upon picking up my specimens
I was much surprised to find
that two birds out of the four had the
hind - and some of the other - toe nails
produced to a most surprising length, & 
in one specimen these were twisted
slightly and attenuated in several
places till it seemed wonderful that
they had not been broken off. In
addition to this several of the toes in each
bird were excessively swollen, probably