CONCORD 
1879 
)c(jp 
per 10 
A nnual ' 
day w ith 
Dan French 
on the 
river 
At 8 A.M. I started off with Dan French for our 
annual day on the river. Our progress was leisurely as it 
was too hot to work hard at the oars, but we reached Fair- 
haven Bay by 11 o’clock. On the way up we saw numbers of 
birds, among them a Blue-winged Teal and an exceedingly 
tame Coot, of which more anon. 1 At the trout brook we went 
ashore and scrambled about for a little while, discovering 
some fine paper birches and a very large witch-hazel which 
was in full bloom, altho 8 its leaves had not all fallen. 
Dan, taking my gun, walked up to the duck ponds, while I 
lay down on the edge of the woods and watched a swarm of 
which 
Titlarks/were feeding over a newly ploughed field. In the 
woods behind me Jays and Squirrels were busy as usual, and 
an occasional cicada shrilled while the answering calls of 
the unknown autumn voice were almost incessant. Finally 
D. returned; he had seen several Partridges but did not get 
a shot at them. Starting again, we rowed up past the next 
bridge to the spot where we ate our dinner last year (Oct 
16). Here we landed and spent a pleasant hour at our noon¬ 
tide meal. As we were about setting off again a couple of 
rakish-looking gunners entered the marsh on the opposite 
side of the river and began to beat it with a large orange 
and white setter. In the course of the next half-hour they 
flushed five Snipe, four of which they killed. The old dog 
