CONCORD, 
Partridges were out in force this afternoon. Shortly 
after five o*clock I heard no less than three drumming near 
Pmlpit Rock, one on the stone wall at the foot of Barrett 
Run, another on the wall at the western end of Birch Field, 
the third near the spring. ( I also started several others. 
One, a large cock bird, uttered just as he flew from a stone 
wall and for the first thirty yards or more of his flight 
a guttural wur- e-e, wur- e-e, wur- e-e. wur- e- e. This is the 
ordinary flight note of alarm.J 
I stalked the drummer at the west end of Birch Field 
with the utmost care and espied him sitting in a crouching 
dejected posture on his drumming stone. As I was well concealed 
by some young pines and had made no noise, I felt sure that 
I had at length succeeded in stealing on a Massachusetts 
Partridge unawares and that I should presently see him drum. 
But after sitting perfectly motionless for a minute or two, 
with his head turned away from me, he suddenly straightened 
himself up, gave his tail a sharp upward flirt and jumped 
down on the further side of the wall. Crafty bird! He was 
no doubt watching me keenly from the very first moment that 
I got sight at him. 
The wild apple tree in front of the barn at the Fg.rrn 
which the Partridges budded so persistently (every night 
and morning for a week or more) last March was in full bloom 
to-day and I have never seen a tree more crowded with blossoms. 
