Partridges 
drum all 
day in a 
rain and 
snow storm 
At about 6 o’clock this morning I heard a Creeper 
( Mniotilta ) singing near the cabin and in the bushes along 
the river path found a Hermit Thrush and a Tree and White- 
throated Sparrow. The Thrush and White-throat doubtless 
arrived during the night, but the Tree Sparrow has been 
there several days. 
It is singular that so many birds should have come 
last night for the weather was not only thick and stormy 
but also very cool and these conditions must have pre¬ 
vailed over a rather wide area. 
I should have mentioned that C. and E. R. S. left 
me this morning, starting for Cambridge at 8.30. 
Despite the cold and stormy weather (or, perhaps, 
because of it) my Partridges drummed through the entire 
day at short, regular intervals. I heard the bird on 
the old wall between Holden’s Meadow and Ball’s Hill every 
time we passed and the bird on the pine log at the north 
end of Davis's Swamp was equally persistent in the face 
of still greater obstacles, for not only did he have the 
heavy rain and still heavier snow storm to contend with, 
but out huge bonfire was built within thirty yards of him 
and, being directly to windward, sent dense volumes of 
smoke directly through the thicket where he was concealed. 
As for noice, there was not only the crackling of the fire 
but the voices of the men and their movements in the 
bushes as they brought out the piles of dead branches. 
