Immediately after breakfast I started on a long 
walk. Behind Ball's Hill I found Fox tracks. As I was 
crossing the swamp, three Partridges rose from among the 
dense blueberry bushes with a great roar of wings. Their 
tracks showed that they had been roaming about the swamp 
together. 
Passing Bensen's house, I kept on across the 
Mason's field and thence down towards the river, when I 
heard distant shouting in the direction of the cabin. I 
accordingly turned back and made my way quickly towards 
Davis's Hill. Just as I reached its crest I saw Herbert 
Holden and Gilbert hurrying towards me through the woods. 
To my amazement they were bringing my 20 g. gun and car¬ 
tridge bag. When they came up, Holden explained excitedly 
that he had come upon an enormous bird which he thought 
must be some kind of an Eagle,at Birch Island. He saw it 
first flapping through the trees. It alighted on the edge 
of the meadow where he walked up to within thirty feet 
of it and, after looking at it several minutes, left it 
sitting there and hastened back to the cabin to tell me 
about it. As nearly half-an-hour had elapsed since he 
had left it,, vte all feared that it would be gone but, 
walking rapidly, we soon reached the island and Holden 
almost immediately discovered the bird sitting on a pile of 
wood under the birches near the landing. 
