I am 
Spent most of the forenoon at Mrs. Barrett's, 
considering seriously the purchase of her whole farm with its 
extensive tracts of fine woodland. ... 
In the afternoon Miss Marian Keyes and Miss Gage 
called and we walked to Holden's Hill. Several weeks ago 
I noticed in the large white pine that stands at the foot of 
the hill on the south side a nest which looked much like the 
nest of a Red Squirrel only it was much too large. In other 
words, it was a very bulky and almost shapeless mass, con¬ 
taining few if any sticks and composed almost wholly of 
what looked like the reddish inner bark of the chestnut. 
It was placed close against the trunk of the tree on a stout 
branch about 40 feet above the ground. The ground beneath 
was thickly sprinkled with chalky white spots of excrement, 
evidently that of either a Hawk or an Owl;but on neither 
the first nor a subsequent visit did I see any signs of life 
in or about the nest. 
As we approached it this afternoon,however, I made 
out a young bird sitting very erect in the nest. It was 
covered with light grayish down and its face looked broad and 
round like that of an Owl, but a few moments later we dis¬ 
covered another young bird,fully feathered and free from down , 
perched on a branch several yards from the ne st and this 
second young was evidently a Red-shouldered Hawk. 
I cannot understand the wide difference in apparent 
age between it and the young bird in the nest, but of course 
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