The back fins, very long and sharp, projected two or three inches above water.

July 1

P. M. — Paddled on the Acushnet. 

Passed through some schools of fishes which were rippling the surface about us in midstream. 

The back fins, very long and sharp, projected two or three inches above water. Walton said afterward that they were menhaden.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, July 1, 1856

Schools of fishes rippling the surface about us in midstream. See July 9, 1855 (“The surface of the ocean is rippled by fishes, mostly menhaden, far and wide, in countless myriads, such the populousness of the sea.”)

July 1. See A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, July 1 

Menhaden back fins, 

very long and sharp, project

above the water.  

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, Menhaden back fins

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

Two arrowheads amid oyster and clam shells by a rock at the head of the creek.

June 28. 

Lamium amplexicaule still out behind R.’s shanty. 

I pick up two arrowheads amid oyster and clam shells by a rock at the head of the creek opposite R.’s. One was of peculiar form, quite blunt and small, of quartz, apparently to knock over small game without breaking the skin. 

(P. M. — I paddle up the Acushnet, about a mile above the paper-mill, as far as the ruined mill, in Walton’s skiff with Arthur R. (Walton was named from I. Walton, the angler, and Arthur from Dana’s hero in “Sun not set yet,” etc.) 

I never saw such an abundance of peltandra as borders that sluggish and narrow stream, in bunches alternating with pickerel-weed; leaves of very various forms and sizes.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 28, 1856


Lamium amplexicaule (henbit dead-nettle).

Peltandra virginica (green arrow-arum).

One song sparrow or two?

June 25.

An abundance of the handsome corn-cockle (Lychnis), apparently in prime, in midst of a rye-field, together with morning-glories by the Acushnet shore.

Black-grass in bloom, partly done. A kind of rush (?) with terete leaves and a long spike of flowers, one to two feet high, somewhat like a loose plantain spike. It inclines to grow in circles a foot or more in diameter. 

Seaside plantain and rosemary, not long out. Veronica arvensis one foot high (!) on the shore there. Spergularia rubra var. marina.

 P. M. —Called at Thomas A. Greene’s in New Bedford, said to be best acquainted with the botany of this vicinity (also acquainted with shells, and some-what with geology). In answer to my question what were the rare or peculiar plants thereabouts, he looked over his botany deliberately and named the Aletris farinosa, or star-grass; the Hydrocotyle vulgaris (probably interrupta of Gray), which he thought was now gone; Proserpinaca pectinacea, at the shallow pond in Westport where I went last fall with Ricketson; Panax trifolium. That chenopodium-like plant on the salt-marsh shore, with hastate leaves, mealy under sides, is Atriplex patula, not yet out. 


Brewer, in a communication to Audubon (as I read in his hundred(?)-dollar edition), makes two kinds of song sparrows, and says that Audubon has represented one, the most common about houses, with a spot in the centre of the breast, and Wilson the other, more universally spotted on the breast. The latter’s nest will be two feet high in a bush and sometimes covered over and with an arched entrance and with six eggs (while the other has not more than five), larger and less pointed than the former’s and apparently almost wholly rusty brown. This builds further from houses.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, June 25, 1856

July 25. See A Book of the Seasons,, by Henry Thoreau, June 25

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 © 2009-2021

Exploring New Bedford area.

October 3

Somewhat rainy. 

Walked along shore of Acushnet looking for shells. R. pointed out to me the edible mushroom, which he says he loves raw even. It is common. 

The shore was all alive with fiddler crabs, carrying their fiddles on one side, and their holes, nearly an inch over, were very common and earth heaped up.

Sailed back up the river in Arthur’s whale-boat with three sails. Her side drank water through a crack. He gave three dollars for her and spent ten more in repairs. Twenty feet long, and worth originally per haps $75. If I had stayed longer we should probably have gone to Cuttyhunk in this. 

P. M. — Rode to see some old houses in Fairhaven.

Visited the studio in Fairhaven of a young marine painter, built over the water, the dashing and gurgling of it coming up through a grating in the floor. He was out, but we found there painting Van Best, a well—known Dutch painter of marine pieces whom he has attracted to him. He talked and looked particularly Dutchman-like.

H. D. Thoreau Journal, October 3, 1855

A young marine painter.... This was the studio of William Bradford, later recognized as one of the world's most accomplished marine painters. Dutch artist Albert Van Beest, Bradford's mentor, was at that time more well known than his soon-to-be famous student. ~ source: Mapping Thoreau Country.