October 15, 1905 - Thursday. 
Tonight it was cloudy and rather cold 
and damp. Birds were flying guite thick. I 
heard olive-hacked thrushes, myrtle warblers, 
fox and field sparrows and several ducks. The 
ducks wings made an audible v/hish whish whish 
and I took them for teal. Sometimes it 
Was possible to trace the course of the birds 
hy their notes. The smaller birds must have been 
flying in loose formation because they answered 
each other from considerable distances apart 
generally. All were going straight south. 
October 1 7, 1905 - Saturday . 
This morning after breakfast I went down in 
the fields. Saw a Harris sparrow in the old 
pasture. It gave a low musical note. I shot it 
hut it was in such poor condition that I did 
not keep it. 
In the afternoon I went over to Jack Dickie’s. 
Saw two more Harris sparrows. They flew up 
from the roadside and lit in the bare bushes. 
They went quickly through as we passed. 
Petzke’s cornfield was flooded and the 
ground was very soft. It was literally alive 
with Wilson snipe. A half dozen or more flew 
np at every step. I shot ten and then quit. 
T hey had filled the ground with their borings, 
sometintes so close together that they almost 
touched. Their flight puzzled me a good deal 
ut first. Frequently 25 or 30 would flock in 
the air and after flying around in large circles 
settle back. Never have 1 seen them as thick as 
they are this year. 
Occasionally I heard a few whistled notes 
overhead and looking up would see a greater 
yellowlegs going over. They flew high and very 
fast. I tried to whistle them down but they 
would not come. They v/ere going due south. 
The Wilson snipe seemed to occupy a very 
limited for I only saw a few outside of that 
°be cornfield. 
