May 27, 2016
I stop at Bristol pond take a picture
then hear a Baltimore oriole confirmed
when I see it high in a tree singing.
~ zphx
Fringilla melodia’s nest in midst of swamp, with four eggs, made partly of usnea; two stories, i.e. upon an old nest, elevated one foot above the water; eggs with very dark blotches.
Kalmia in prime, and rhodora. Apparently the oldest-blossomed kalmia the palest.
Saw probably a deer mouse jumping off by the side of the swamp; short leaps of apparently ten inches.
The pyrus (smooth-leaved) out apparently a day or two.
See men fishing, one or two, and often perceived the meadow fragrance.
My three kinds of birch sap have now become more acid, especially the white and canoe birch. The black birch is milder and more agreeable. With sugar it is an agreeable drink. I prefer it to cream-o’-tartar water. This is the real birch wine.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 27, 1856
Fringilla melodia’s nest in midst of swamp, with four eggs, made partly of usnea; . . . eggs with very dark blotches. . . .See June 14, 1855 ("A song sparrow’s nest in ditch bank under Clamshell, of coarse grass lined with fine, and five eggs nearly hatched and a peculiar dark end to them."); June 9, 1855 ("A song sparrow’s nest low in Wheeler’s meadow, with five eggs, made of grass lined with hair. ") See also A Book of Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Song Sparrow (Fringilla melodia)
Kalmia in prime, and rhodora. . . . See May 26, 1855 ("To my surprise the Kalmia glauca almost all out; perhaps began with rhodora. A very fine flower, the more interesting for being early."); January 9, 1855 ("Make a splendid discovery this afternoon. Walking through Holden’s white spruce swamp, I see peeping above the snow-crust some slender delicate evergreen shoots . . . the Kalmia glauca var.rosmarinifolia."). Note: the Kalmia glauca var. rosmarinifolia is known as rosemary-leaf laurel or alpine bog laurel (Andromeda Polifolia) H. Peter Loewer, Thoreau's Garden: Native Plants for the American Landscape 32-33
Saw probably a deer mouse jumping off by the side of the swamp. See November 15, 1857 ("I saw, sitting nearly erect at the bottom in one corner, a little Mus leucopus, panting with fear and with its large black eyes upon me.") January 15, 1857 ("So it was so many thousands of years before Gutenberg invented printing with his types, and so it will be so many thousands of years after his types are forgotten, perchance. The deer mouse will be printing on the snow of Well Meadow to be read by a new race of men. ") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, The Wild Mouse (" The common name of "deer mouse" (coined in 1833) is a reference to its agility. Unlike meadow voles, deer mice have long legs that allow them to bound like deer.")
Often perceived the meadow fragrance. . . . See May 27, 1855 ("The meadow fragrance to-day.”); May 15,1856 ("Perceive some of that delicious meadow fragrance coming over the railroad causeway.”)
May 27. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, May 27
A deer mouse jumping
off by the side of the swamp –
short leaps ten inches.
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 © 2009-2026
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