P. M.— Up Assabet by boat to survey Hosmer’s field.
On the Island I hear still the redstart—tsip tsip tsip tsip, tsit-i-yet, or sometimes tsip tsip tsip tsip, tse vet. A young male. It repeats this at regular intervals for a long time, sitting pretty still now.
Waxwork open and pollen one or two days.
I notice a clam lying up, and two or three cleared or light-colored places, apparently bream-nests commenced.
June 6, 2018
Blue-eyed grass maybe several days in some places.
One thimble-berry blossom done— probably several days.
There are now those large swarms of black-winged millers a half-inch long, with two long streamers ahead, fluttering three to six inches over the water; not long, methinks; also other insects.
I see a yellow-spotted tortoise twenty rods from river, and a painted one four rods from it which has just made a hole for her eggs.
Two catbirds’ nests in the thickest part of the thicket on the edge of Wheeler’s meadow near Island. One done laying (I learn after); four eggs, green, —much darker green than the robin’s and more slender in proportion. This is loosely placed in the forks of a broad alternate or silky cornel bush, about five feet from the ground, and is composed of dead twigs and a little stubble, then grape vine bark, and is lined with dark root-fibres.
Another, eight rods beyond, rests still more loosely on a Viburnum dentatum and birch; has some dry leaves with the twigs, and one egg,—about six feet high. The bird hops within five feet.
The white maple keys are about half fallen. It is remarkable that this happens at the time the emperor moth (cecropia) comes out.
Carex crinita, a few days, along bank of Assabet.
There are now those large swarms of black-winged millers a half-inch long, with two long streamers ahead, fluttering three to six inches over the water; not long, methinks; also other insects.
I see a yellow-spotted tortoise twenty rods from river, and a painted one four rods from it which has just made a hole for her eggs.
Two catbirds’ nests in the thickest part of the thicket on the edge of Wheeler’s meadow near Island. One done laying (I learn after); four eggs, green, —much darker green than the robin’s and more slender in proportion. This is loosely placed in the forks of a broad alternate or silky cornel bush, about five feet from the ground, and is composed of dead twigs and a little stubble, then grape vine bark, and is lined with dark root-fibres.
Another, eight rods beyond, rests still more loosely on a Viburnum dentatum and birch; has some dry leaves with the twigs, and one egg,—about six feet high. The bird hops within five feet.
The white maple keys are about half fallen. It is remarkable that this happens at the time the emperor moth (cecropia) comes out.
Carex crinita, a few days, along bank of Assabet.
Whiteweed, Merrick’s pasture shore, these two or three days.
The Salix cordata (which apparently blossomed some days after the S. sericea) is very common on Prichard’s shore and also Whiting’s. Also at the last place is a small shrub, ——a little of it, — perhaps S. lucida, which apparently blossomed about same time, or a day or two after, the sericea.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 6, 1855
Two catbirds’ nests in the thickest part of the thicket . . . Another, eight rods beyond. See June 6, 1856 ("A catbird nest on shore of Andromeda and in shrub oak, three feet high, twigs and bark shreds lined with root-fibres; three eggs.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Catbird nests
The dark eye and shade of June. See June 4, 1855 ("Dark shadows on field and wood are the more remarkable by contrast with the light yellow-green foliage now, and when they rest on evergreens they are doubly dark, like dark rings about the eyes of June."); June 4, 1860 ("A grateful but thin shade, like a coarse sieve, so open that we see the fluttering of each leaf in its shadow.”); June 9. 1856 ("Now I notice where an elm is in the shadow of a cloud,—the black elm-tops and shadows of June. It is a dark eyelash which suggests a flashing eye beneath. It suggests houses that lie under the shade, the repose and siesta of summer noons, the thunder-cloud, bathing, and all that belongs to summer.") June 11, 1856 ("I observe and appreciate the shade, as it were the shadow of each particular leaf on the ground. I think that this peculiar darkness of the shade, or of the foliage as seen between you and the sky, is not accounted for merely by saying that we have not yet got accustomed to clothed trees, but the leaves are rapidly acquiring a darker green, are more and more opaque, and, besides, the sky is lit with the intensest light. It reminds me of the thunder-cloud and the dark eyelash of summer. "); June 26, 1854 ("I am struck, as I look toward the Dennis shore from the bathing-place, with the peculiar agreeable dark shade of June, a clear air, and bluish light on the grass and bright silvery light reflected from fresh green leaves.");June 30, 1860 ("The shadows under the edge of woods are less noticed now because the woods themselves are darker.”); July 3, 1854 ("The leaves have so multiplied that you cannot see through the trees; these are solid depths of shade, on the surface of which the light is variously reflected.”)
The Salix cordata (which apparently blossomed some days after the S. sericea) is very common on Prichard’s shore and also Whiting’s. Also at the last place is a small shrub, ——a little of it, — perhaps S. lucida, which apparently blossomed about same time, or a day or two after, the sericea.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 6, 1855
On the Island I hear still the redstart—tsip tsip tsip tsip, tsit-i-yet, or sometimes tsip tsip tsip tsip, tse vet. A young male. See June 4, 1855 ("Redstarts still very common in the Trillium Woods (yesterday on Assabet also). Note tche, tche, tche vit, etc.”); May 29, 1855 ("— a-che che che, che- á, or tche tche tche , tche - a, or ah tche tche tche, chit-i- vet ? It is very small, not timid, but incessantly changing its position on the pitch pines, etc. Some a pure dull white, some tawny - white, beneath; some cinereous, others more dusky still, above . . . a very deeply forked or divided tail with a broad black tip beneath, and toward the roots a fire-brick-color . . . It is undoubtedly young males and the females of the redstart, described by Wilson, — very different from the full-plumaged black males"); See also J.J. Audubon ("The young males of this species do not possess the brilliancy and richness of plumage which the old birds display, until the second year, the first being spent in the garb worn by the females . . . Notwithstanding their want of full plumage, they breed and sing the first spring like the old males.") and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The American Redstart
Two catbirds’ nests in the thickest part of the thicket . . . Another, eight rods beyond. See June 6, 1856 ("A catbird nest on shore of Andromeda and in shrub oak, three feet high, twigs and bark shreds lined with root-fibres; three eggs.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Catbird nests
The dark eye and shade of June. See June 4, 1855 ("Dark shadows on field and wood are the more remarkable by contrast with the light yellow-green foliage now, and when they rest on evergreens they are doubly dark, like dark rings about the eyes of June."); June 4, 1860 ("A grateful but thin shade, like a coarse sieve, so open that we see the fluttering of each leaf in its shadow.”); June 9. 1856 ("Now I notice where an elm is in the shadow of a cloud,—the black elm-tops and shadows of June. It is a dark eyelash which suggests a flashing eye beneath. It suggests houses that lie under the shade, the repose and siesta of summer noons, the thunder-cloud, bathing, and all that belongs to summer.") June 11, 1856 ("I observe and appreciate the shade, as it were the shadow of each particular leaf on the ground. I think that this peculiar darkness of the shade, or of the foliage as seen between you and the sky, is not accounted for merely by saying that we have not yet got accustomed to clothed trees, but the leaves are rapidly acquiring a darker green, are more and more opaque, and, besides, the sky is lit with the intensest light. It reminds me of the thunder-cloud and the dark eyelash of summer. "); June 26, 1854 ("I am struck, as I look toward the Dennis shore from the bathing-place, with the peculiar agreeable dark shade of June, a clear air, and bluish light on the grass and bright silvery light reflected from fresh green leaves.");June 30, 1860 ("The shadows under the edge of woods are less noticed now because the woods themselves are darker.”); July 3, 1854 ("The leaves have so multiplied that you cannot see through the trees; these are solid depths of shade, on the surface of which the light is variously reflected.”)
Blue-eyed grass maybe several days in some places. See May 29, 1852 ("Blue-eyed grass [in bloom]."); May 29, 1853 ("That exceedingly neat and interesting little flower blue-eyed grass now claims our attention"); May 29, 1856 (“Blue-eyed grass, probably to-morrow.”); May 31, 1854 (“Blue-eyed grass, apparently in pretty good season.”)); July 6, 1851("Blue-eyed grass is now rarely seen. “) See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, blue-eyed grass
Those large swarms of black-winged millers a half-inch long, See. May 31, 1859 (" Small black flies or millers over river, with long feelers, flying low in swarms now"); See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Insect Hatches in Spring (millers, perla, shad-flies or ephemera)
I see a yellow-spotted tortoise twenty rods from river, and a painted one four rods from it which has just made a hole for her eggs. See June 6, 1854 ("The painted tortoises are nowadays laying their eggs. "); June 11, 1854 ("I saw a yellow-spotted tortoise come out, — undoubtedly to lay its eggs, — which had climbed to the top of a hill as much as a hundred and thirty feet above any water. ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Painted Turtle (Emys picta); and A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Yellow-Spotted Turtle (Emys guttata)
The white maple keys are about half fallen. It is remarkable that this happens at the time the emperor moth (cecropia) comes out. See May 29, 1854 ("The white maple keys have begun to fall and float down the stream like the wings of great insects."); May 30, 1853 ("The white maple keys falling and covering the river. "); June 2, 1855 ("From that cocoon of the Attacus cecropia which I found. . . came out this forenoon a splendid moth. "); June 2, 1856 ("White maple keys conspicuous. ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Maple Keys
The Salix cordata (which apparently blossomed some days after the S. sericea) is very common on Prichard’s shore. See June 6, 1856 ("The S. cordata is another of the ochre-flowered ones."); See also May 11, 1856 ("The Salix sericea at Island rock is out, also the S. cordata off Prichard’s, both apparently with S. alba."); May 14, 1858 ("The Salix sericea, large and small, and the petiolaris or loose-catkinned . . . are now out of bloom.The rostrata not quite done . . . SThe alba not quite done. S. pedicellaris by railroad about done, and the Torreyana done.")
June 6. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, June 6.
The dark eye and shade
of June seen on the river
as well as on land.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The dark eye and shade of June
A Book of the Seasons , by Henry Thoreau
"A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality."
~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2025
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