CONCORD. 
Evening on the Assabet 
1892 
Laly 13 
Roost of 
the 
Red-wings 
jJE spent the day in the house, writing, but immediately 
after tea started up river in my canoe. The evening was 
cloudy and very sultry, with scarce a breath of air. Thun¬ 
der muttered and lightning flashed in the distant West but 
nothing came of it. 
The wild rice along the river has headed out and 
Red-wings were feeding on it at the mouth of Mill Brook. 
On reaching Egg Rock I saw them in greater numbers still 
flying into and from the tall canary grass on the island 
at the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet. They were 
evidently going to roost. After watching them for several 
minutes, I struck the flat of my paddle on the water, making 
a noise which in the still damp air sounded nearly as loud 
a.s .a gun. Instantly a perfect cloud of Blackbirds rose — 
like a puff of black smoke — and circled over me. There 
must have been fully 200, the majority young, uttering the 
cha-cha note as they flew. I am not sure that I saw any 
old males here but there were several in the Mill Brook 
gathering. 
Barn Swallows 
Some thirty of more Barn Swallows were flying over 
the water above the river and dashing in and out among 
the black willows on the opposite side of the river. At 
first I supposed that they were going to roost in these 
willows, but only two or three — and theBe evidently young 
birds — alighted and before I left the spot they began to 
disappear. 
