CONCORD 
1892 
October 4 
Ball* s Hill 
Abundance of 
small birds 
Circus 
hudsonius 
(Marsh Hawk) 
George brought my horse at 9 A, M. and with C. 
I drove to Bedford over the river road and back by way of 
Carlisle Bridge to Ball’s Hill which we reached at 11 o’clock. 
George took the boat down and we came back in it, starting 
at sunset and arriving at the house as it was getting dark, 
fburing our drive we saw a great many small birds, chiefly 
in flocks, rising from weedy fields at the rattle of our 
carriage or flitting on ahead of us where bushes lined the 
roadside. The majority were Sparrows or several species 
with a sprinkling of Blue Jays, Robins, Flickers and Blue¬ 
birds and a good many Yello?/-rumped Warblers. No large 
flocks of Crows seemed to be about but small parties and 
single birds were seen in the usual numbers 7\ 
Harsh Hawks were exceptionally numerous. Unless 
the same birds showed themselves more than once, we saw at 
least six or seven of which two were old males. One of the 
latter was acting in a singular manner. Flying in broad 
circles over a wooded hill (Benson's Knoll.) at an average 
height above the tree tops of perhaps fifty feet,he moved 
his wings in a loose, fluttering way, each upward stroke 
carrying the tips straight up so that they almost met above 
his back, the downward strokes being correspondingly (or 
nearly so) pronounced. The wing beats were curiously moth¬ 
like and also suggested the fluttering of a Hawk caught in 
in a trap. They did not raise the bird perceptibly but on 
