MASS. (Middlesex Co.) 1875 Sunday Jan.24 Jan. 24 - 1875 Cloudy with a slight fall of snow in the afternoon). Started immediately after dinner to drive ours to R. Smith's in Brooklyns. While passing the Water farm saw a flock of about a dozen J. migratorius among the cedars beyond the brook. I have seen only a single bird (which appeared to be locally resident) then before this winter and probably then our arrivals have been driven from some long winter retreat by a scarcity of food. When frequent stormy winter storms prevail all birds, even those whose food is of such a nature as to be in no danger of decomposition, seem stimulated to great restlessness and activity and the great anxiety with regard to their necessary subsistence is plainly manifested. For Brooklyns I saw two large flocks of finches probably one comprising at least 80 individuals, but detected no red ones among them. Jan.25 Fine and cold with high wind. Took a ride up the turnpike to Belmont in P.W. Saw two large flocks of Plee. girvalis on the road feeding amongst droppings of the horses. They were so tame that I merely drove over them and could not be forced to leave the road. Jan.26 Clear and cold. Saw a Mr. Muldoe in Brighton hailing on the threshold of a stable.