March 1874 Brookline, Mass. 1874 March 31 my horse I put him up in the barn or set out for a tramp. The country in that neighborhood is very wild & beautiful and I enjoyed the day much despite the inclemency of the weather. Scarcely had we left the road that a grouse rose from a clump of barberry bushes & I doubled hers up pretty at 35 paces with an ounce of No 8. from my Jones & loader, considering the fact that I wanted a bird in spring plumage a sufficient excuse for disregarding the draw. On direction I found the birds but slightly developed more of them larger than the No 1 shot. We shortly came across the largest flock of Par. vilica that I was ever saw at least 100, the males singing in chorus like blackbirds. They were in oak & pine large growth & were extremely shy, but by persevering I secured a dog in all. Among some thickly growing white pines we heard a soft hooting, what species I knew not, as it was a different cry from any I am familiar with though most likely belonging the barred owl. On another occasion we heard a short sharp bark from a huge pine ahead. Smith immediately remarked that he had never heard a similar sound in the woods before but thought it might be some unnatural cry of a gray squirrel but scarcely were the words out of his mouth than a bid about the size & shape of ac. Cooperii left the tree &