MASS. (Middlesex Co.) [Middlesex County, Massachusetts] Oporonis agilis over Concord
1876.
Tuesday
Sept. 19 [September 19, 1876] Came down from Concord Friday Sept. 15th [September 15, 1876] to
make preparations for a longer visit there.
This afternoon drove up Concord in my
buggy taking Smuggler again and leaving
my trunk to be sent up by express.
Arrived in the town at 6.30 P.M. meeting
Jim [James C. Melvin] on his way from the depot and
I was soon quartered comfortably in his
room in the court house.
[September] 20 [September 20, 1876] Cloudy all day with occasional drizzling
rain. Drove down to Hall's in the forenoon
and hunted over a good deal of ground,
meeting W. Buttrick [William Buttrick] near the turnpike,
and hunting in company with him. His
dog put up four woodcock in all of
which I killed one that had been driven
across the road and which I started among
rather thick birches. Smuggler had no 
chance to point anything. He troubles me
chiefly by his timidity in the cover as it is
almost impossible to get him to range more
than a few yards away from me.
Woodcock 1
  [September] 21 [September 21, 1876] Cloudy with frequent rain in spite of which
however I drove down to Halls in the
forenoon and killed a very large
cock, starting two in all. The one shot
I first started among birches & hazel and
drove it down into a swamp where I
put it up again and by a very hard
snap shot killed it. Saw and shot at, an
Oporonis agilis. It rose from the ground among 
oak saplings on a dry hillside. Woodcock 1.
[margin]Woodcock 1 Woodcock 1[/margin]