1898 
March 27 
******** ** 
In the afternoon paddled down river and landing a 
little below Flint’s Bridge walked across the fields to 
Pratt’s Nursery. Just as I was leaving the canoe, a Bittern 
pumped twice in the meadows east of the T-tree. When I 
returned an hour later, he was driving stakes loudly and 
persistently further down the river at the western end of 
Great Meadow. This is the earliest date for the arrival of 
the Bittern that I have ever noted. 
