1891 
November 11 
A day 
at 
Ball * s Hill 
Horned Larks 
Having completed (on Saturday last) my negotiations 
with Mr. Holden for the purchase of Ball’s Hill, I wont there 
this morning by boat and alone to make a thorough examination 
of the woods and cut a few paths through them. I paddled 
all the way down as the morning was very calm and warm and I 
was in no hurry. A few Tree Sparrows in the button bushes 
over the water, several Blue Jays in the leafless maples on 
the banks, and a Red-shouldered Hawk which started from an oak 
on the meadow as my boat came in sight around a bend were all 
the birds I saw wxcept a flock of Horned Larks, twenty-five 
in number, wheeling about in air over and finally alighting 
in a broad, level field on the north side of the river just 
beyond Hunt's Pond. This field is intervale land, perfectly 
drained and intensely green to-day with what appeared to be 
winter wheat. As far as I can learn, the Horned Larks do not 
alight in the river meadows (or marshes) at all. 
On Ball’s Hill I heard Kinglets ( satrapa) and 
Chickadees. A Pickering's Hyla was calling feebly at inter¬ 
vals. 
Mouse 
swim s 
the 
river 
I got rather wet during the frequent showers but 
did not start for home until nearly dark. As I passed Holden's 
meadow a large bird which I took at first for a Great Horned 
Owl but afterwards decided to be a Buteo rose from the grass 
and flew off over the woods. I also saw a mouse of some kind, 
swimming.the river. It dove as adroitly as a Muskrat when I 
chased it. 
H7 
