Late occurrence of Nyctiardea var. Gardeni
MASS. (Middlesex Co.) [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
1875.
Dec. 2 [December 2, 1875] Clear still and a pleasant day. Ther. [Thermometer] 2 [degrees] at
sunrise. Left the house about 3 P.M. and
started up through the swamps taking
Shot. Everything was frozen solid and
the walking very good everywhere. Just
across the R.R. track [Railroad track] as I was entering the
maple swamp a grouse rose within
20 yds. [yards] of me; it was still as death
but although I [delete]watched[/delete] stopped the instant
I saw the bird leave the ground I could
hear not the slightest whirring of wings
or sound of any kind, and this in 
spite of the fact that the bird got up
with more than usual celerity and
went off with the usual swift direct flight.
Keeping on after it I came to Alewife brook
which I found entirely open, kept so by
the warm sewerage matter now discharged
into it. While walking along its bank I
saw sitting under the sunny side of
a large bush a bird which I took for a
barred owl, but which upon my shooting, turned
out to be a Nyctiardea Gardenii. The mystery
of its presence here so late was satisfactorily
explained upon my picking it up when
I found that one of the wings had been
broken and had healed in such a way
that the [delete]wing became[/delete] it could not be
used in flight. The bird was in very good
condition and had evidently established
itself for the winter by the open ditch where
it could obtain food. That a very low 
temperature can be endured by many of
our summer birds is now well known
and in this case the bird had probably