Henry David Thoreau’s diary, 1855

P. M. — To Great Meadows. Saw one of those silver-gray cocoons which are so securely attached by the silk being wound round the leaf-stalk and the twig. This was…

Sunday. P. M.—J. P. Brown road and Hubbard’s Bridge. Cloudy and misty. On opening the door I feel a very warm southwesterly wind, contrasting with the cooler air of…

7.80 a. M. — To river. Still warm and cloudy, but with a great crescent of clear sky increasing in the north by west. ‘The streets are washed bare down to the ice.…

P. M. — To Conantum. A cloudy day, threatening snow; wet under foot. How pretty the evergreen radical shoots of the 5t. John’s-wort now exposed, partly red or lake,…

P. M. — To Beck Stow’s. The swamp is suddenly frozen up again, and they are carting home the mud which was dug out last fall, in great frozen masses. The twigs of…

P. M.—Skated to Lee’s Bridge and Farrar’s Swamp — call it Otter Swamp. A fine snow had just begun to fall, so we made haste to improve the skating before it was too…

P. M.—To Flint’s Pond wa ’Minott’s meadow. After a spitting of snow in the forenoon, I see the blue sky here and there, and the sun is coming out. It is still and…

Warm and wet, with rain-threatening clouds drifting from southwest. Muddy, wet, and slippery. Surprised to see oak balls on a red oak. Picked up a pitch pine cone…

Skated to Baker Farm with a rapidity which astonished myself, before the wind, feeling the rise and fall, — the water having settled in the suddenly cold night,…

P. M.—Skated to Bedford. It had just been snowing, and this lay in shallow drifts or waves on the Great Meadows, alternate snow and ice. Skated into a crack, and…

To Cambridge and Boston. Carried to Harris the worms — brown, light-striped — and fuzzy black caterpillars (he calls the first also caterpillars); also two black…

7 a. M.— Yesterday it rained hard all day, washing off the little snow that was left down to the ice, the gutters being good-sized mill-brooks and the water over…

Our lesser redpoll is said to be the same with the European, which is called Le Sazerin by Buffon. (This in Bewick.) I heard its mew about the house early this…

2.30 p. m.— The sky has gradually become overcast, and now it is just beginning to snow. Looking against a dark roof, I detect a single flake from time to time, but…

Heavy rain in the night and half of to-day, with very high wind from the southward, washing off the snow and filling the road with water. The roads are well-nigh…

P. M.— The water is still higher than yesterday. I found [it] just over the Red Bridge road, near the bridge. The willow-row near there is not now bright, but a…

I am [reading] William Wood’s “New England’s Prospect.’”’ He left New England August 15th, 1633, and the last English edition referred to in this American one of…

P. M. — To Andromeda Ponds. This morning was a perfect hunter’s morn, for it snowed about three quarters of an inch last evening, covering land and ice. Is not good…

This morning it snows again, —a fine dry snow with no wind to speak of, giving a wintry aspect to the landscape. What a Proteus is our weather! Let me try to re-…

A fine snow falling, spoiling all prospect of skating on this broad ice. Is not good skating the surest sign of snow or foul weather ? To continue the 26th: — P. M.…

Yesterday’s driving easterly snow-storm turned to sleet in the evening, and then to rain, and this morning it is clear and pretty cold, the wind westerly, the snow…

Sunday. Grew warmer toward night and snowed; but this soon turned to heavy rain in the night, which washed all the snow off the ice, leaving only bare ground and…

Not cold. Sun comes out at noon.

Clear and not cold, and now fine skating, the river rising again to the height it had attained the 24th, which (with this) I think remarkable for this season. It is…

Wednesday. A clear, cold, beautiful day. Fine skating. An unprecedented expanse of ice. At 10 a. M., skated up the river to explore further than I had been. The…

Quite clear and colder, yet it could not refrain from snowing half an inch more in the night, whitening the ground now, as well as the ice. Brown is again filling…

This morning it is snowing again, as if a squall. ‘The snow has thus spit on the ice four times since this last skating began on Tuesday, the 30th, viz. Thursday…

Clear and cold and windy; much colder than for some time. Saw this afternoon a very distinct otter-track by the Rock, at the junction of the two rivers. The…

It was quite cold last evening, and I saw the scuttle window reflecting the lamp from a myriad brilliant points when I went up to bed. It sparkled as if we lived…

The coldest morning this winter. Our thermometer stands at —14° at 9 a. m.; others, we » hear, at 6 a. m. stood at —18°, at Gorham, N. H., —30°. There are no…

Commenced snowing last evening about 7 o’clock, —a fine, dry snow, —and this morning it is about six inches deep and still snows a little. Continues to snow finely…

Snowed harder in the night and blowed considerably. It is somewhat drifted this morning. A very fine and dry snow, about a foot deep on a level. It stands on the…

P. M. — To Walden. A fine, clear day. There is a glare of light from the fresh, unstained surface of the snow, so that it pains the eyes to travel toward the sun. I…

P. M.—To J. Dugan’s via Tommy Wheeler’s. The atmosphere is very blue, tingeing the distant pine woods. The dog scared up some partridges out of the soft snow under…

All trees covered this morning with a hoar frost, very handsome looking toward the sun, — the ghosts of trees. Is not this what was so blue in the atmosphere…

10 a. Ms — To Walden Woods. Not cold; sky somewhat overcast.

Another rather warm morning, still more overcast than yesterday’s. There is also another leaf or feather frost on the trees, weeds, and rails, — slight leaves or…

Commenced a fine half snow half rain yes- terday afternoon. All rain and harder in the night, and now quite a thaw, still raining finely, with great dark puddles…

Still rains a little this morning. Water at the Mill-Dam higher than ever since the new block was built—or longer. Ground half bare, but frozen and icy yet. P. M. —…

It is still cloudy and a very fine rain. The river very high, one inch higher than the evening of January 3lst. The bridge at Sam Barrett’s caved in; also the Swamp…

8 a. mM. — Water four and three quarters inches above truss, nearly two inches higher than yes- terday at 2 p. m. It may have risen one inch higher during the day,…

Rufus Hosmer says that in the year 1820 (? ) there was so smooth and strong an icy crust on a very deep snow that you could skate everywhere over the fields and for…

I have caught another of those mice of February 16th and secured it entire, — a male. Wiiolelem@th . 2. 2. 1. 6 0s te ee we ee 64 inches Head, from the nose to…

Another Arvicola Emmonsu, a male; whole length six inches, tail three inches. This is very little reddish on the sides, but general aspect above dark-brown; though…

P. M.— To J. Farmer’s. Remarkably warm and pleasant weather, perfect spring. I even listen for the first bluebird. I see a seething in the air over clean russet…

Clear, but a very cold north wind. I see great cakes of ice, a rod or more in length and one foot thick, lying high and dry on the bare ground in the low fields…

Clear, but very cold and windy for the season. Northerly wind; smokes blown southerly. Ground frozen harder still; but probably now and hereafter what ground…

Clear, cold, and windy. Thermometer at 7° at 7.30 a. mM. Air filled with dust blowing over the fields. Feel the cold about as much as when it was below zero a month…

Still clear and cold and windy. No thaw- ing of the ground during the day. This and the last two or three days have been very blustering and un- pleasant, though…

Another cold, clear day, but the weather gradually moderating.

Still cold and clear. Ever since the 23d inclusive a succession of clear but very cold days in which, for the most part, it has not melted perceptibly during the…

10 a. m. — To Derby’s Bridge and return by Sam Barrett’s, to see ice cakes and meadow crust. The last day for skating. It is a very pleasant and warm day, the…

Another still, warm, beautiful day like yesterday. 9 a. M. — To Great Meadows to see the ice. Saw yesterday one of those small slender-winged insects on the ice. A.…

Saturday. P. M. —'To Conantum. This afternoon it is somewhat overcast for the first time since February 18th inclusive. I see a dirty-white miller fluttering about…

Sunday. River channel fairly open. P. M. — To Bee Tree Hill over Fair Haven Pond. For some time, or since the ground has been bare, I have noticed the spider-holes…

P. M. — To Beck Stow’s. A strong but warm southwesterly (?) wind, which has produced a remarkable haze. As I go along by Sleepy Hollow, this strong, warm wind,…

'To Second Division Brook. Still stronger wind, shaking the house, and rather cool. This the third day of wind. Our woods are now so reduced that the chopping of…

P. M. — To Red-Ice Pond. A raw east wind and rather cloudy. Methinks the buds of the early willows, the willows of the railroad bank, show more of the silvery down…

P. M.— To old Carlisle road. Another fair day with easterly wind. This morning I got my boat out of the cellar and turned it up in the yard to let the seams open…

A cloudy, rain-threatening day, not windy | and rather warmer than yesterday. Painted the bottom of my boat. P. M. — To Andromeda Ponds. Scare up a rabbit on the…

Snowed in the night, a mere whitening. In the morning somewhat overcast still, cold and quite windy. The first clear snow to whiten the ground since February 9th.…

P. M. — To Annursnack. Clear and rather pleasant; the ground again bare; wind northerly. I am surprised to see how rapidly that ice that covered the meadows on the…

6.30 a. m. —'To Andromeda Ponds. Lesser redpolls still.’ Elbridge Hayden and Poland affirm that they saw a brown thrasher sitting on the top of an apple tree by the…

Northern lights last night. Rainbow . in east this morning. Almost all the meadow-crust now (and for a week past) lies on a cake of ice where it lodged and which,…

'Three inches of snow in the morning, and it snows a little more during the day, with occa- sional gleams of sunshine. Winter back again in pros- pect, and I see a…

Jacob Farmer gave me to-day the foot of an otter, also of a fisher, —to put with my pine marten’s foot. He cut them off of recent furs in Boston. He sells about a…

Cloudy in the forenoon. Sun comes out and it is rather pleasant in the afternoon. P. M. — To Conantum End.

Saturday. H. Hosmer says he has seen black ducks. Edmund Hosmer’s meadow, 2. e. the Hunt house meadow, is covered with great pieces of meadow, the largest thick and…

Fair in the forenoon, but more or less cloudy and windy in the afternoon. ! The last. ? [There is an interrogation-point in the margin against this para- graph.]

A fine clear and warm day for the season. Launched my boat. P. M. — Paddled to Fair Haven Pond.

A flurry of snow at 7 a.m. I go to turn my boat up. Four or five song sparrows are flitting along amid the willows by the waterside. Probably they came yesterday…

6.30 a. M.— To Swamp Bridge Brook. Clear, but a very cold westerly wind this morning. Ground frozen very hard. Yet the song sparrows are heard from the willow and…

6.30 a. mM. — To Hill. Overcast and cold. Yet there is quite a concert of birds along the river; the song sparrows are very lively and musical, and the blackbirds…

P. M. —'To Fair Haven Pond. Carried my flying squirrel back to the woods in my handkerchief. I placed it, about 3.30 Pp. M., on the very stump I had taken it from.…

I think that the celandine started as early as the 10th of March and has since been nibbled off by hens, etc., for it shows more green but [is] not longer. P. M. —…

6 a. mM.—Still cold and blustering; wind southwest, but clear. I see a muskrat-house just erected, two feet or more above the water and sharp; and, at the Hubbard…

6.30 a. mM. — To Island. The ducks sleep these nights in the shallowest water which does not freeze, and there may be found early in the morning. I think that they…

P. M. — To Cliffs, along river.

P. M. — To Flint’s Pond. Flint’s Pond is entirely open; may have been a day or two. There was only a slight opening about the © boat-house on the 2Ist, and the…

6.30 a. mM. — To Island. It is a little warmer than of late, though still the shallows are skimmed over. The pickerel begin to dart from the shallowest parts not…

I see through the window that it is a very fine day, the first really warm one. I did not know the whole till I came out at 3 p. m. and walked to the Cliffs. The…

The month comes in true to its reputa- tion. We wake, though late, to hear the sound of a strong, steady, and rather warm rain on the roof, and see the puddles…

It is somewhat warmer, but still windy, and — P. M. —I go to sail down to the Island and up to Hubbard’s Causeway. Most would call it cold to-day. I paddle without…

A fine morning, still and bright, with smooth water and singing of song and tree sparrows and some blackbirds. A nuthatch is heard on the elms, and two ducks fly…

Fast-Day. 9 a. mM.—To Sudbury line by boat. A still and rather warm morning, with a very thick haze concealing the sun and threatening to turn to rain. It is a…

It clears up at 8 p. M. warm and pleasant, leaving flitting clouds and a little wind, and I go up the Assabet in my boat. The blackbirds have now begun to frequent…

In my walk in the afternoon of to-day, I saw from Conantum, say fifty rods distant, two shel- drakes, male and probably female, sailing on A. Wheeler’s cranberry…

6 a. mM. — Up Assabet. A fine clear morning. The ground white with frost, and all the meadows also, and a low mist curling over the smooth water now in the…

Rained in the night. Awake to see the ground white with snow, and it is still snowing, the sleet driving from the north at an angle of certainly not more than…

Still falls a little snow and rain this morn- ing, though the ground is not whitened. I hear a purple finch, nevertheless, on an elm, steadily warbling and uttering…

P. M.— To Second Division cowslips. A fair day, but a cool wind still, from the snow- covered country in the northwest. It is, however, pleasant to sit in the sun…

6 a. mM. — To Island. An overcast and moist day, but truly Apml— no sun all day — like such as began methinks on Fast- Day, or the 5th. You cannot foretell how it…

9 a. M.— To Atkins’s boat-house. No sun till setting. Another still, moist, overcast day, without sun, but all day a crescent of light, as if breaking away in the…

5 a.m.— To Hill.

5 a. m.— Up Assabet. Very little frost; a clear morning. ‘The oars still cold to the hand at this hour. Did I not hear an F. juncorum at a distance??' Saw some crow…

6 a. m.—See and hear tree sparrows, and hear hyemalis still. Rained last evening and was very dark. Fair this morning and warm. White-bellied swallow’s and martin’s…

5 a. M. — Up Assabet. Warm and still and somewhat cloudy. Am without greatcoat. The guns are firing and bells ringing. I hear a faint honk and, looking up, see…

Rains all day, taking out the frost and imprisoning me. You cannot set a post yet on account of frost.

5 a. M.— To Cliffs. Fair and still. There is a fog over the river, which shows at a distance more than near by. Not much. The frost conceals the green of the…

5.30 a. mM. — To Assabet stone bridge. Tree sparrows still. See a song sparrow getting its | breakfast in the water on the meadow like a wader. Red maple yesterday,…

River higher than before since winter. Whole of Lee Meadow covered. Saw two pigeon wood- peckers approach and, I think, put their bills together and utter that…

P. M.— To Flint’s Pond. Warm and quite a thick haze. Cannot see distant hills, nor use my glass to advantage. The Equisetum arvense on the causeway sheds its green…

A moist April morning. A small native willow leafing ' and showing catkins to-day; also the black cherry in some places. The common wild rose to-morrow.…

A cloudy, still, damp, and at length driz- zling day. P. M. — To Bayberry and Black Ash Cellar. Wheildon’s arbor-vitee well out, maybe for a week. The silvery…

5 a. mM. —S. tristis Path around Cliffs. Cold and windy, but fair. The earliest willow by rail- road begins to leaf and is out of bloom. Few birds are heard this…

A second cold but fair day. Good fires are required to-day and yesterday. P. M. — Sail to Ball’s Hill. The chimney swallow, with the white-bellied and barn…

This morning it snows, but the ground is not yet whitened. This will probably take the cold out of the air. Many chip-birds are feeding in the yard, and one…

Horse-chestnut begins to leaf, — one of them. | Another, more still, cloudy, almost drizzling day, in which, as the last three, I wear a greatcoat. P. M. —@ortLes’s…

Rained some in the night; cloudy in the forenoon; clears up in the afternoon. P. M. — By boat with Sophia to Conantum, a may- ing. The water has gone down very fast…

P. M.— By boat up Assabet. Quince begins to leaf, and pear; perhaps some of last earlier. Aspen leaves of young trees — or twenty to twenty-five feet high—an inch…

P. M. — To Assabet Bath. Small pewee; tchevet, with a jerk of the head. Hard- hack leafed two or maybe three days in one place. Early pyrus leafed yesterday or day…

A robin sings when I, in the house, cannot distinguish the earliest dawning from the full moon- light. His song first advertises me of the daybreak, when I thought…

P. M. — To Beck Stow’s. Cold weather for several days. Canada plum and cultivated cherry and Missouri currant look as if they would bloom to-morrow. The sugar…

The young sugar maples leafing are more conspicuous now than any maples. Black oak buds are large and silvery. Peach leafed yesterday. P. M. — To epigeea. Salix…

5 a. mM. — To Island. Finger-cold and windy. The sweet-flags showed themselves about in the pads. Hear Maryland yellow- throat. Many grackles still in flocks…

5 a. mM. — To Gilead.! Still finger-cold. Think I saw bank swallows.? At noon begins a cold, drizzling rain, which con- tinues at intervals through the next day. A…

P. M.— To Annursnack. The black currant will not bloom for five or six days. A large red maple just begun to leaf — its keys an inch and a half long — by Assabet…

Canada plum opens petals to-day and leafs. Domestic plum only leafs. Summer yellowbird. P. M. — To Beeches. Young red maples are generally later to leaf than young…

A. M. — To Island. Only the lower limbs of bass begin to leaf yet, — yesterday. A crow blackbird’s nest, about eight feet up a white maple over water, —a large,…

Cold enough for a fire this many a day. 6 a.m. — To Hill. I hear the myrtle-bird’s ? te-e-e, te-e-e, t t t, t t t, clear flute-like whistle, and see eight or ten…

P. M. — Down river and to Yellow Birch Swamp. Yesterday was the first warm day for a week or two, and to-day it is much warmer still and hazy — as much like summer…

Our peaches begin to bloom; others prob- ably earlier. Domestic plums open; some maybe yes- terday. Missouri currant open yesterday or day before. One apple on a…

P. M. — To Beck Stow’s. Suddenly very warm. Hear a hummingbird in the garden. Pear blossomed,— some perhaps yesterday. Locust, black and scarlet oak, and some…

P. M. — Up Assabet. Trees generally leafing. Black willow leafs. Bass leaf is an inch over; probably began about the 14th. Panicled andromeda leafed in some places,…

Waked up at 2.30 by the peep of robins, which were aroused by a fire at the pail-factory about two miles west. I hear that the air was full of birds singing…

P. M. — Boat to Nut Meadow. Large devil’s-needle. Sassafras well open. How long? Celtis will probably shed pollen to-morrow; shoots already an inch long. Sorrel…

Put my little turtles into the river. They had not noticeably increased in size,—or hardly. Three had died within a week for want of attention, — two mud turtles…

Rains a little.

P. M. — To Island. Salix nigra leafs. Is that plump blue-backed, rufous- rumped swallow the cliff swallow, flying with barn swal- lows, etc., over the river?…

Cerasus pumila in full bloom. How long? Bank swallows — ashy-brown above — have holes at Deep Cut. Have not surely distinguished them before, this season. Sage…

A. M. — To bayberry wa river. Myrica, not quite. Lousewort pollen, how long?

A. M. — To Beck Stow’s. Buttonwood not open. Celandine pollen. Butter- nut pollen, apparently a day or two. Black oak pollen yesterday, at least. Scarlet oak the…

A rather warm night the last; window slightly open. Hear buzz of flies in the sultryish morn- ing air on awaking. 8 a. M. — To Hill. Late rose shoots, two inches,…

8 a. mM. — By boat to Kalmia glauca and thence to scouring-rush. Again a strong cold wind from the north by west, turning up the new and tender pads. The young…

P. M.— To Fair Haven Pond, taking boat opposite Puffer’s. Still a very strong wind from northerly, and hazy and rather cool for season. The fields now begin to wear…

How’s morus not yet, apparently, for two or three days, though the stigmas are obvious. Button- wood stigmas are now brown, since the 24th. P. M. — To Middle…

P. M. — To Island Neck. That willow by the rock south of Island (of May 2d) appears to be without doubt the Salix sericea, — the leaves beginning to turn black…

Saw bird’s nest on an apple by roadside, seven feet high; one egg. Cherry-bird on a cherry; also pecking at the apple blossoms. Minott says that within two or three…

A very windy day, the third, drowning the notes of birds, scattering the remaining apple blossoms. Rye, to my surprise, three or four feet high and glaucous. Cloudy…

Still windier than before, and yet no rain. It is now very dry indeed, and the grass is suffering. Some springs commonly full at this season are dried up. The wind…

A rainy day at last. Caraway in garden apparently three days out.

P. M.— To Hubbard’s Close. Clears up in forenoon. Some of the scouring-rush gathered the Ist begins to open its whorls or stages in the chamber; say sheds pollen…

P. M.— To Clamshell by river. Yellow Bethlehem-star in prime. Aphyllon, or orobanche, well out apparently several days. Nuphar Kalmiana budded above water.…

P. M.— Up Assabet by boat to survey Hos- mer’s field. On the Island I hear still the redstart — tsp tsp tsip tsip, tsit-i-yet, or sometimes tsip tsvp tsvp tszp, tse…

Rain. In afternoon — mizzling weather—to Abel Hos- mer Woods. Cistus, apparently yesterday, open. A yellowbird’s nest on a willow bough against a twig, ten feet…

P. M.— Goose Pond. High blueberry. A crow two thirds grown tied up for a scarecrow. A tanager’s (?) nest in the top- most forks of a pitch pine about fifteen feet…

P. M.—To Wheeler’s azalea swamp, across meadow. Early primrose done, say two days. An orchis, prob- ably yellowish, will be common in Wheeler’s meadow.’ Sidesaddle,…

P. M. — To owl’s nest. A remarkably strong wind from the southwest all day, racking the trees very much and filling the air with dust. I do not remember such…

How’s morus, staminate flowers appar- ently only a day or two (pollen); the pistillate a long . time. The locust apparently two or three days open. When I would go…

Tuesday. Down river to swamp east of Poplar Hill. I hear the toad, which I have called “spray frog” falsely, stall. He sits close to the edge of the water and is…

C. finds a pigeon woodpecker’s nest in an apple tree, five of those pearly eggs, about six feet from the ground; could squeeze your hand in. Also a peetweet’s, with…

Thursday. Up river. | See young red-wings; like grizzly-black vultures, they are still so bald. See many empty red-wing nests now amid the Cornus sericea. The…

Friday. To Moore’s Swamp. Robin’s nest in apple tree, twelve feet high — young nearly grown. Hair-bird’s nest on main limb of an apple tree, horizontal, ten feet…

Saturday. ‘The cherry-bird’s egg was a satin color, or very pale slate, with an internal or what would be called black-and-blue ring about large end. P. M. — To…

To Hemlocks. Sparganium. <A yellowbird feigns broken wings. Woodcock. At 3 p. M., as I walked up the bank by the Hem- locks, I saw a painted tortoise just beginning…

Tuesday. P. M. — Up Assabet. A pewee’s nest (bird apparently small pewee, nest apparently wood pewee’s) on a white maple’s nearly horizontal bough, eighteen feet…

A catbird’s nest eight feet high on a pitch pine in Emerson’s heater piece, partly of paper. A summer yellowbird’s, saddled on an apple, of cot- ton-wool, lined…

Saw a white lily in Everett’s Pond. Sparrow’s nest, four eggs, deep in the moist bank beyond cherry-bird’s nest (have three), of peculiar color. She deserted the…

At 6 p. M. the temperature of the air is 77°, of river one rod from shore 72°. Warmest day yet.

Probably a redstart’s nest (?) on a white oak sapling, twelve feet up, on forks against stem. Have it. See young redstarts about. Hear of flying squirrels now grown.

Under E. Wood’s barn, a phcebe’s nest, with two birds ready to fly; also barn swallow’s nest lined with feathers, hemisphere or cone against side of sleeper; five…

C. has found a wood pewee’s nest on a horizontal limb of a small swamp white oak, ten feet high, with three fresh eggs, cream-colored with spots of two shades in a…

On river. Two red-wings’ nests, four eggs and three — one without any black marks. Hear and see young golden robins which have left the nest, now peeping with a…

2 p. mM. — Thermometer north side of house, 95°; in river where one foot deep, one rod from shore, 82°.

Young bobolinks are now fluttering over the meadow, but I have not been able to find a nest, so concealed in the meadow-grass. At 2 p. ma. — Thermometer north side…

4p. M.— Air out-of-doors generally, 86°. On the sand between rails in the Deep Cut, 103°. Near the surface of Walden, fifteen rods from shore, 80°. Three feet below…

To Boston on way to Cape Cod with C. The schooner Melrose was advertised to make her first trip to Provincetown this morning at eight. We reached City (? ) Wharf at…

In middle of the forenoon sailed in the Melrose. We hugged the Scituate shore as long as possible on account of wind. The great tupelo on the edge of Scituate is…

Rode to North Truro very early in the stage Provincetown WU Pets 40 Ht he OY Sf or covered wagon, on the new road, which is just finished as far as East Harbor…

Smilax glauca in blossom, running over the shrubbery. Honkenya peploides, sea sandwort, just out of bloom on beach. The thick-leaved and dense- tufted, upright…

A northeasterly storm. A great part of beach bodily removed and a rock five feet high exposed [The fruit of the shad-bush. See Cape Cod, p. 203; Riv. 244.] ? I saw…

Peterson brings word of blackfish. I went over and saw them. The largest about fourteen feet long. Nineteen years ago three hundred and eighty at this (Great)…

‘The sea, like Walden, is greenish within half a mile of shore, then blue. The purple tinges near the shore run far up and down. Walked to marsh head of East Harbor…

See young piping plover running in a troop on the beach like peetweets. Patches of shrub oaks, bay- berry, beach plum, and early wild roses, overrun with woodbine.…

Peterson says he dug one hundred and twenty-six dollars’ worth of small clams near his house in Truro one winter, — twenty-five bucketfuls at one time. One man…

About $33,000 has been appropriated for the protection of Provincetown Harbor. Northeast winds the strongest. Caught a box tortoise. It appeared to have been…

The sea has that same streaked look that our meadows have in a gale. Go to Bay side. Stench of blackfish. The lobster holds on to the pot himself. Throw away the…

Why not have one large reflector instead of many small ones, for a strong light? Uva-ursi berries begin to redden. Beach-grass grows on the highest land here. Uncle…

Leave Small’s. Corn-cockle, or rose- campion, a handsome flower, by East Harbor Marsh. Lychnis Githago, how long? Perfect young horseshoe crab shells there.…

In Concord. Young bobolinks; one of the first autumnalish notes. The early meadow aster out.

A red-eyed vireo nest on a red maple on Island Neck, on meadow-edge, ten feet from ground; one egg half hatched and one cowbird’s egg, nearly fresh (!), a trifle…

I hear that many of those balls have been found at Flint’s Pond within a few days. See small flocks of red-wings, young and old, now, over the willows. ‘The pigeon…

Many little toads about. That piece of hollow kelp stem which I brought from the Cape is now shrivelled up and is covered and all white with crystals of salt a…

Saw the lightning on the telegraph battery and heard the shock about sundown from our window; —an intensely bright white light.

Our dog-days seem to be turned to a rainy season. Mr. Derby, whose points of compass I go to regulate, tells me that he remembers when it rained for three weeks in…

P. M.— To Conantum by boat. Squirrels have eaten and stripped pitch pine cones. Small rough sunflower a day or two. Diplopappus cornifolius (how long?) at Conant…

4 A. M. — On river to see swallows. They are all gone; yet Fay saw them there last night after we passed. Probably they started very early. I asked Minott if he…

P. M. — Down river to Tarbell Hill with C. Saw a Sternotherus odoratus, caught by the neck and hung in the fork between a twig and main trunk of a black willow,…

To Tarbell Hill again with the Emer- sons, a-berrying. Very few berries this year.

Blue-curls, how long? Not long.

Elecampane, apparently several days. River is risen and fuller, and the weeds at bathing-place washed away somewhat. Fall to them. Dana says a sprit is the diagonal…

P. M. — To Nagog. Middle of huckleberrying.

See painted tortoise gat scales, — half off and loose.’

1 hear of some young barn swallows in the nest still in R. Rice’s barn, Sudbury.

Scare up a pack of grouse.

In Dennis’s field this side the river, I count about one hundred and fifty cowbirds about eight cows, running before their noses and in odd positions, awkwardly…

Saw two green-winged teal, somewhat pigeon-like, on a flat low rock in the Assabet.

First frost in our garden. Passed in boat within fifteen feet of a great bittern, standing perfectly still in the water by the riverside, with the point of its bill…

Small locusts touched by frost, probably of the 31st August; nothing else in the woodland hollows.

Wednesday. <A stream of black ants a sixth of aninch long in thesteep path beyond the Springs, some going, others returning, diagonally across the path two rods,…

I can find no trace of the tortoise-eggs of June 18, though there is no trace of their having been disturbed by skunks. They must have been hatched earlier. C. says…

Loudly the mole cricket creaks by mid- afternoon. Muskrat-houses begun.

A few clams freshly eaten. Some grapes ripe.

P. M. — To Hubbard’s Close. I scare from an oak by the side of the Close a young hen-hawk, which, launching off with a scream and a heavy flight, alights on the…

P. M. — Up Assabet. See many painted tortoise scales being shed, half erect on their backs. An Emys insculpta which I mis- took for dead, under water near shore;…

As I go up the Walden road, at Breed’s, Hubbard, driving his cows through the weed-field, scares a woodchuck, which comes running through the wall and down the…

Up Assabet. Do I see wood tortoises on this branch only? About a week since, Mr. Thurston told me of his being carried by a brother minister to hear some music on…

First decisive frost, killing melons and beans, browning button-bushes and grape leaves. P. M. — Up main stream. The great bittern, as it flies off from near the…

Stopped at the old Hunt house with Ricket- son and C. The rafters are very slender, of oak, yet quite sound; the laths of split cedar (?), yet long and straight and…

Many tortoise-scales about the river now. Some of my driftwood — floating rails, etc. — are scented with muskrats; have been their perches; and also covered with a…

Small sparrows, with yellow on one side above eye in front and white belly, erectile (?) crown divided by a light line. Those weeds, etc., on the bared meadow come…

P. M. — Up river to Conantum with C. A very bright and pleasant fall day. The button- bushes pretty well browned with frost (though the maples are but just…

A very fine and warm afternoon after a cloudy morning. Carry Aunt and Sophia a-barberry- ing to Conantum. Scare up the usual great bittern above the railroad…

Went up Assabet for fuel. One old piece of oak timber looks as if it had been a brace in a bridge. I get up oak rails here and there, almost as heavy as lead, and…

Collecting fuel again this afternoon, up the Assabet. Yesterday I traced the note of what I have falsely thought the Rana palustris, or cricket frog, to its true…

Go to Daniel Ricketson’s, New Bedford. At Natural History Library saw Dr. Cabot, who says that he has heard either the hermit, or else the olivaceous, thrush sing,…

Sunday. Rode with R. to Sassacowens Pond, in the north part of New Bedford on the Taunton road, called also Toby’s Pond, from Jona- than Toby, who lives close by,…

Among R.’s books is Bewick’s “AXsop’s Fa- bles.” On a leaf succeeding the title-page is engraved a facsimile of B.’s handwriting to the following effect: ‘“‘…

A cloudy day. Rode to “Sampson’s” in Middleborough, thirteen miles. Many quails in road. Passed over a narrow neck between the two Quitticus ponds, after first…

Copied the map of Middleborough. Somewhat rainy. Walked along shore of Acushnet looking for shells. R. pointed out to me the edible mushroom, which he says he loves…

Rode to Westport, where R. wished to con- sult the Proprietors’ Records of Dartmouth to find the names, etc., of his ancestors. Passed through Smith’s Mills…

Rode to Plymouth with R., in his buggy. In the north part of Rochester, went into an old un- inhabited house which once belonged to John Shear- man. It had the date…

Return to Concord via Natural History Library. De Kay calls the pine marten the American sable.

On river. — Flocks of tree sparrows by river, slightly warbling. Hear a song sparrow sing. See apparently white-throated sparrows hopping under covert of the…

A young man has just shown me a small duck which he shot in the river from my boat. I thought it a blue-winged teal, but it has no distinct beauty-spot. The bill…

P. M. — Up Assabet. The leaves fallen apparently last night now lie thick on the water next the shore, concealing it, — fleets of dry boats, blown with a rustling…

P. M. — To Conantum.

Some sparrow-like birds with yellow on rump flitting about our wood-pile. One flies up against the house and alights on the window-sill within a foot of me inside.…

P. M.— Go to look for white pine cones, but see none. Saw a striped squirrel on a rail fence with some kind of weed in his mouth. Was it milkweed seed? At length he…

P. M.— To the white pine grove beyond Beck Stow’s. What has got all the cones? How evenly the freshly fallen pine-needles are spread on the’ ground! quite like a…

P. M. — Up river. A fine Indian-summer afternoon. There is much gossamer on the button-bushes, now bare of leaves, and on the sere meadow-grass, looking toward the…

Last night I was reading Howitt’s account of the Australian gold-diggings, and had in my mind’s eye the numerous valleys with their streams all cut up with foul…

P. M. — To Pine Hill for chestnuts. It is a very pleasant afternoon, quite still and cloud- less, with a thick haze concealing the distant hills. Does not this haze…

P. M. — To Nawshawtuct. Agreeable to me is the scent of the withered and de- caying leaves and pads, pontederias, on each side as I paddle up the river this still…

It began to rain about 10 o’clock last evening after a cloudy day, and it still rains, gently but steadily, this morning. The wind must be east, for I hear the…

Another cloudy day without rain. P. M. — To Fair Haven Hill via Hubbard’s Grove. How welcome this still, cloudy day! An inward sunniness more than makes up for the…

P. M. — To Saw Mill Brook. The streets are strewn with buttonwood leaves, which rustle under your feet, and the children are busy raking them into heaps, some for…

Rained last night and all this day for the most part, bringing down the leaves, buttonwoods and sugar maples, in the street. The rich yellow and scarlet leaves of…

Quite cold it has cleared up after the rain. P. M. —I row up the river, which has risen eight or nine inches After these pleasant and warm days it is suddenly cold…

P. M. — To Conantum. Another clear cold day, though not so cold as yes- terday. The light and sun come to us directly and freely, as if some obstruction had been…

P. M. — A-chestnutting down the Turn- pike. There are many fringed gentians, now considerably frost-bitten, in what was E. Hosmer’s meadow between his dam and the…

P. M. — By boat to Leaning Hemlocks. I think it was the 18th that I first noticed snow-fleas on the surface of the river amid the weeds at its edge. Green leaves…

P. M. — Up Assabet. Carried my owl to the hill again. Had to shake him out of the box, for he did not go of his own accord. (He had learned to alight on his perch,…

Wednesday. Going to the new cemetery, I see that the scarlet oak leaves have still some bright- ness; perhaps the latest of the oaks.

Thursday. P. M.— Up Assabet, a-wood- ing. After a rain-threatening morning it is a beautiful Indian-summer day, the most remarkable hitherto and equal to any of the…

P. M.— To Mill by Assabet. This forenoon the boys found a little black kitten about a third grown on the Island or Rock, but could not catch it. We supposed that…

T hate the present modes of living and getting a living. Farming and shopkeeping and working at a trade or profession are all odious to me. I should relish getting…

A mizzling rain from the east drives me home from my walk. The knawel in the sand on the railroad causeway grows in dense green tufts like the hudsonia, six or…

Another drizzling day, — as fine a mist as can fall. P. M. — Up Assabet. I see a painted tortoise swimming under water, and to my surprise another afterward out on…

A quite warm and foggy morning. I can sit with my window open and no fire. Much warmer than this time last year. Though there is quite a fog over the river and…

7 A. M. — Grass white and stiff with frost. 9 a. M. — With Blake up Assabet. A clear and beautiful day after frost. Looking over the meadow westward from Merrick’s…

P. M. — Up Assabet. As long as the sun is out, it is warm and pleasant. The water is smooth. I see the reflections, not only of the wool-grass, but the bare…

In mid-forenoon (10.45), seventy or eighty geese, in three harrows successively smaller, flying southwest — pretty well west— over the house. A completely overcast,…

About an inch of snow fell last night, but the ground was not at all frozen or prepared for it. A little greener grass and stubble here and there seems to burn its…

<A cold, gray day, once spitting snow. Water froze in tubs enough to bear last night. Minott had two cats on his knee. One given away without his knowledge a…

Again I hear that sharp, crackling, snap- ping sound and, hastening to the window, find that another of the pitch pine cones gathered November 7th, lying in the…

Geese went over on the 13th and 14th, on the 17th the first snow fell, and the 19th it began to be cold and blustering. That first slight snow has not yet gone off!…

Bottom of boat covered with ice. The ice next the shore bore me and my boat.

P. M. — By river to J. Farmer’s. He gave me the head of a gray rabbit which his boy had snared. This rabbit is white beneath, the whole length, reddish-brown on the…

River skimmed over behind Dodd’s and elsewhere. Got in my boat. River remained iced over all day. This evening I received Cholmondeley’s gift of In- dian books,…

Monday. A pleasant day. No snow yet (since that first whitening which lasted so long), nor do I see any ice to speak of. Hear and see, of birds, only a tree sparrow…

Melvin says that he shot a sheldrake once in the act of swallowing a perch seven or eight inches long He had got nothing to-day, for he forgot his: caps. al A…

10 Pp. M. — Hear geese going over.

Saturday. Still no snow, — nor ice notice- able. I might have left my boat out till now. I have not worn gloves yet. This afternoon I go to the woods down the…

A still, completely gray, overcast, chilly morning. At 8.30 a fine snow begins to fall, increasing very gradually, perfectly straight down, till in fifteen min-…

‘To Cambridge.

P. M. — To Holden Swamp, Conantum. For the first time I wear gloves, but I have not walked early this season. I see no birds, but hear, methinks, one or two tree…

This morning it is snowing, and the ground . is whitened. The countless flakes, seen against the dark evergreens like a web that is woven in the air, impart a…

Still no snow, and, as usual, I wear no gloves. P. M. — To Hubbard’s skating meadow. A few chickadees busily inspecting the buds at the willow-row ivy tree, for…

Going to the post-office at 9 a. M. this very pleasant morning, I hear and see tree sparrows on Wheildon’s pines, and just beyond scare a downy woodpecker and a…

Dull overcast morning, so warm that it has actually thawed in the night, and there is a wet space larger than the ice on the sidewalk. It draws forth crowing from…

P. M. — To Conantum-End.

9 a. M. — Snow driving almost horizontally from the northeast and fast whitening the ground, and with it the first tree sparrows I have noticed in the yard. It…

After snow, rain, and hail yesterday and last night, we have this morning quite a glaze, there being at last an inch or two of crusted snow on the ground, the most…

Recalled this evening, with the aid of Mother, the various houses (and towns) in which I have lived and some events of my life. Born, July 12, 1817, in the Minott…

P. M.— Hollowell place and back near Hubbard’s Bridge. To-day and yesterday the boys have been skating on the crust ip the streets, —it is so hard, the snow being…

Down railroad to Andromeda Ponds. I occasionally see a small snowflake in the air against the woods. It is quite cold, and a serious storm seems to be beginning.…

The snow which began last night has con- tinued to fall very silently but steadily, and now it is not far from a foot deep, much the most we have had yet; a dry,…

It is one of the mornings of creation, and the trees, shrubs, etc., etc., are covered with a fine leaf frost, as if they had their morning robes on, seen against…