more than one bird in four or five that they pursue. Cooper’s 
Hawk is probably an exception to this rule. He is cer¬ 
tainly the deadliest fellow of them all. 
As I was making my way through some dense young 
pines on the Prescott lot this forenoon, Bensen’s dog who 
was a little in advance started an enormous Owl, which I 
took to be Bubo virginianu s. It rose either from the 
ground or from a very low branch and flapped heavily and 
noisily up into a pine. The dog pursued it at once and 
it flew again as soon as he got beneath it and before I 
could get a fair view of it, showing a great spread of 
wing as it glided off through the tree tops, 
Pat reports seeing three Quail this afternoon, 
running on the snow along the wood-path near Bensen’s Landing. 
They are the first that I have heard of hereabouts since 
the general and almost total annihilation of their ? 
three or four winters ago, but in other parts of Concord 
as well as in Lincoln, Carlisle and Acton the sportsmen 
have been finding a good many this autumn. 
At about 9.30 this morning I counted 38 Crovv's passing 
high over Ball's Hill towards the south and evidently 
migrating. 
Muskrats' houses are sprinkled thickly along the 
river between here and town. I have never seen them so 
numerous before and they are much larger than usual. I 
should judge some of them to be nearly six feet in height. 
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