16 July 1855 – 22 July 1855

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 Sam tells of sea-turtles, which he regarded as natives, as big as a barrel, found on the marsh; of more than one kind.? Call the fishing captains skippers. The oak wood north of Rich’s or Dyer’s Hollow, say twenty years old, nine feet high. Red (?) oaks, ete. Can see soil on edge of bank covered five feet deep with sand which has blown up, on the highest part of bank. See three black snakes on sand just behind edge of bank. Blueberries only one inch high.

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. Goosefoot by marsh very spreading, with entire, obovate leaves. Came up in the Olata, Captain Freeman, a fine yacht. Little wind; were from half past eight into candle-light on water. Mel- rose and another, which started with us, were ten miles astern when we passed light-boat. Kept pace awhile with a steamer towing one of Train’s ships far in the north. The steamer looked very far from ship, and some wondered that the interval continued the same for hours. Smoke stretched perfectly horizontal for miles over the sea, and, by its direction, warned me of a change in the wind before we felt it."

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 larger. The first white (the minute brown dots washing off), sparsely black-dotted at the large end. Have them.

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 woodpeckers have flown. Dog- day weather begins.