Middlesex Co., Mass. 71 MASS. (Middlesex Co.) 1875 Feb.24 The last week has been warm and pleasant, and the snow and ice are going rapidly. In fact the 'backbone of winter' seems to be 'broken' at least. Cedar birds are now very few but are not very numerous. Feb. 19th I saw an immature Pied-billed Grebe in Govold's which had been captured alive on the ice in The harbor. Feb.22 saw a fine adult (or nearly so) Cuthrin Grea at Mt. Adam. 26 Alternately cloudy and clear with a violent N.N.W. wind. Yst, 26° at Senias. The snow and ice have almost entirely disappeared and the fields are brown and bare again; Started off for a tramp this morning taking favorite winter range 'the farm' etc. Found birds very scarce in fact saw hardly anything except the most characteristic species. Had one little adventure having waded a brook below the cedar ridge had overflowed its banks to such an extent that the whole picturesque little valley to which it flows was converted into a miniature lake many of the willows and other trees standing in water four or six feet deep. While creeping along the edge of this little lake in the faint hope of surprising a sheldrake or golden eye in some of the many little pools formed by the clumps of bushes and irregularities of the shore, my attention was attracted by a black object.