1876. 
General Observations 
{Oet.15) 
“ a?. 
« 24. 
Nov« 28. 
Dec. 31. 
1877. 
May 16 
Middlesex County, Mass. 
About two inches of damp snow fell this morning ad¬ 
hering closely to every tv/ig and leaf. As the wsAther 
became colder through the day very little either shook 
or melted off. I drove from Cambridge to Concord this 
afternoon and shall never forgot the beauty of the scen¬ 
ery. As I entered Lincoln woods the sun was setting 
casting a deep roseate glow over everything and the leav^ 
in full perfection of their autumn covering were every¬ 
where frosted with white. 
The snow storm of day before yesterday has banished 
nearly all the small migratory birds. 
At the Cliffs in Concord late this afternoon the 
air, cleared of all haze by recent rain, revealed dis¬ 
tant objects with unusual distinctness, and just before 
sunset the wind died entirely away and the lively scene 
lay bathed in calm restful quiet. So still v/as it that 
the chuck of a chipmunk came distinctly to the aq ear 
from the opposite side of the valley below and even the 
rustling of leaves stirred by his biisy ramblings was dis¬ 
tinctly audible. The voices of some men across the 
river, at least a mile distant, could be plainly heard, 
and even some of the woods distinguished, although thoy 
were talking in ordinary tones. Small Dint ergi. flying 
over the river below, v/ere visible at a distance of at 
least half a mile, but of course only where the slanting 
sunbeams lighted up their gauzy wings. Occasionally 
some small bird would cross the path of light and be 
distinctly seen for a moment becoming invisible as soon 
as it entered the shadow again, precisely as moths appear 
and disappear in the stream of light shed through a win¬ 
dow of a summer evening. 
About two inches of damp snow fell during-the night 
adhereing to every twig and blade of grass. A light 
wing started this morning and the trees began to wave 
gently to and fro their branches throwing delicate,■ 
flickering shadows, on the spotless surface beneath. 
As we forced out way through the thickets the snow shook 
dovm upon us in showorw loading our hat rims and sift¬ 
ing down our backs. 
The past month has been characterized by a great 
scarcity of birds, both of individuals and species. 
There have been absolutely no reegular winter visitors, 
and the regular species have been sparingly represented. 
Since December 9 the ground has been covered with snow art 
the v/eather severe; at this date the snow is over two 
feet deep. 
On reching home from the South this morning, I find 
the season very backward. The past seventy days conse¬ 
cutively have been uniformly cloudy with chilly east wind; 
a single exception to this was May 13, a warm sunny day 
withtho thermometer reaching 80°, and the birds and vege¬ 
tation advancing rapidly. 
