P. M. — To Cedar Swamp via Assabet.
Among others, I see republican swallows flying over river at Island. Again I see, as on the 30th of April, swallows flying low over Hosmer’s meadow, over water. though comparatively few.
About a foot above the water, about my boat, are many of those little fuzzy gnats, and I suspect that it is these they are attracted by. (On the 6th, our house being just painted, the paint is peppered with the myriads of the same insects which have stuck to it. They are of various sizes, though all small, and there are a few shad-flies also caught. They are particularly thick on the coping under the eaves, where they look as if they had been dusted on, and dense swarms of them are hovering within a foot. Paint a house now, and these are the insects you catch. I suspect it is these fuzzy gnats that the swallows of the 30th were catching.)
The river is gone down so much — though checked by the rain of the 2d and 3d — that I now observe the tortoises on the bottom, a sternothaerus among them.
Hear the something like twe twe twe twé, ter té te twe twe of the myrtle-bird, and see the bird on the swamp white oaks by Island.
The aspen there just begun to leaf; not quite the white maple.
I observe that the river meadows, especially Hosmer’s, are divided by two or more ridges and valleys (the latter alone now covered with water and so revealed), parallel with the river. The same phenomenon, but less remarkable, on the Wheeler meadow. Are they the traces of old river-banks, or where, in freshets, the current of the river meets the meadow current, and the sediment is deposited?
See a peetweet on Dove Rock, which just peeps out. As soon as the rocks begin to be bare the peetweet comes and is seen teetering on them and skimming away from me.
Having fastened my boat at the maple, met, on the bank just above, Luke Dodge, whom I met in a boat fishing up that way once or twice last summer and previous years. Was surprised to hear him say, “I am in my eighty-third year.” He still looks pretty strong and has a voice like a nutmeg-grater. Within two or three years at most, I have seen him walking, with that remarkable gait. It is encouraging to know that a man may fish and paddle in this river in his eighty-third year.
He says he is older than Winn, though not the oldest man in the town. Mr. Tolman is in his eighty sixth year.
Went up Dodge’s (an Englishman who once lived up it and no relation of the last-named) Brook and across Barrett’s dam.
In the Cedar Swamp Andromeda calyculata abundantly out; how long? Viburnum nudum leafing. Smilacina trifolia recently up; will apparently open in ten or twelve days.
At the dam, am amused with the various curves of jets of water which leak through at different heights. According to the pressure. For the most part a thin sheet was falling smoothly over the top and cutting short off some smaller jets from the first crack (or edge of the first plank), leaving them like white spikes seen through the water. The dam leaked in a hundred places between and under the planks, and there were as many jets of various size and curve. Reminds me of the tail-piece in Bewick, of landlord drawing beer(?) from two holes, and knowledge of artist shown.
Shad-flies on the water, schooner-like.
Hear the something like twe twe twe twé, ter té te twe twe of the myrtle-bird, and see the bird on the swamp white oaks by Island. See May 4, 1855 ("Myrtle-birds numerous, and sing their tea lee, tea lee in morning. White-throated sparrows here, and numerous."); See also April 11, 1853 ("At Natural History Rooms . . . The yellow-rump warbler (what is it in Nuttall?) is bluish-gray, with two white bars on wings, a bright yellow crown, side breasts, and rump. Female less distinct."); May 1, 1855 ("The myrtle-bird is one of the commonest and tamest birds now. It catches insects like a pewee, darting off from its perch and returning to it, and sings something like a -chill chill, chill chill, chill chill, a-twear, twill twill twee or it may be all tw – not loud; a little like the F. hyemalis , or more like pine warbler – rapid, and more and more intense as it advances."); May 1, 1858 ("I also hear the myrtle-birds on the Island woods. Their common note is somewhat like the chill-lill or jingle of the F. hyemalis.");May 6, 1855 ("Myrtle-birds very numerous just beyond Second Division . They sing like an instrument teee teee te, ttt, ttt, on very various keys, i. e. high or low, some times beginning like phe-be. As I sat by roadside one drew near perched within ten feet, and dived once or twice with a curve to catch the little black flies about my head, coming once within three feet, not minding me much.")
The aspen there (the Island) just begun to leaf. See April 14, 1855 ("The Populus tremuloides by the Island shed pollen — a very few catkins — yesterday at least."); May 2, 1855 ("The young aspens are the first of indigenous trees conspicuously leafed"); May 2, 1859 ("I am surprised by the tender yellowish green of the aspen leaf just expanded suddenly");May 5, 1858 ("The aspen leaves at Island to-day appear as big as a nine pence suddenly"); May 11, 1854 (" I am surprised to find the great poplar at the Island conspicuously in leaf, — leaves more than an inch broad, from top to bottom of the tree, and are already fluttering in the wind, — and others near it — conspicuously before any other native tree, as tenderly green, wet, and glossy as if this shower had opened them. . . . The earliest of our indigenous trees, then, to leaf conspicuously is the early tremble."); May 17, 1860 ("Standing in the meadow near the early aspen at the island, I hear the first fluttering of leaves, - a peculiar sound, at first unaccountable to me");
See a peetweet on Dove Rock. See April 30, 1856 (“As I go along the Assabet, a peetweet skims away from the shore.”); See also April 21, 1855 ("A peep, peetweet, on the shore."); May 2, 1858 (“Peetweet on a rock”); May 2, 1859 (" The river seems really inhabited when the peetweet is back and those little light-winged millers (?)"); May 8, 1860 (" The simple peep peep of the peetweet, as it flies away from the shore") [Thoreau's Peetweet is the Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia)]
Went up Dodge’s Brook and across Barrett’s dam. See May 31, 1853 ("In the meanwhile, Farmer, who was hoeing, came up to the wall, and we fell into a talk about Dodge's Brook, which runs through his farm.")
Shad-flies on the water, schooner-like. See May 1, 1854 ("The water is strewn with myriads of wrecked shad-flies, erect on the surface, with their wings up like so many schooners all headed one way.”) ; May 9, 1854 ("[Harris ] says the shad-flies (with streamers and erect wings ) are ephemeræ.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Insect Hatches in Spring
The river is gone down so much — though checked by the rain of the 2d and 3d — that I now observe the tortoises on the bottom, a sternothaerus among them.
Hear the something like twe twe twe twé, ter té te twe twe of the myrtle-bird, and see the bird on the swamp white oaks by Island.
The aspen there just begun to leaf; not quite the white maple.
I observe that the river meadows, especially Hosmer’s, are divided by two or more ridges and valleys (the latter alone now covered with water and so revealed), parallel with the river. The same phenomenon, but less remarkable, on the Wheeler meadow. Are they the traces of old river-banks, or where, in freshets, the current of the river meets the meadow current, and the sediment is deposited?
See a peetweet on Dove Rock, which just peeps out. As soon as the rocks begin to be bare the peetweet comes and is seen teetering on them and skimming away from me.
Having fastened my boat at the maple, met, on the bank just above, Luke Dodge, whom I met in a boat fishing up that way once or twice last summer and previous years. Was surprised to hear him say, “I am in my eighty-third year.” He still looks pretty strong and has a voice like a nutmeg-grater. Within two or three years at most, I have seen him walking, with that remarkable gait. It is encouraging to know that a man may fish and paddle in this river in his eighty-third year.
He says he is older than Winn, though not the oldest man in the town. Mr. Tolman is in his eighty sixth year.
Went up Dodge’s (an Englishman who once lived up it and no relation of the last-named) Brook and across Barrett’s dam.
In the Cedar Swamp Andromeda calyculata abundantly out; how long? Viburnum nudum leafing. Smilacina trifolia recently up; will apparently open in ten or twelve days.
At the dam, am amused with the various curves of jets of water which leak through at different heights. According to the pressure. For the most part a thin sheet was falling smoothly over the top and cutting short off some smaller jets from the first crack (or edge of the first plank), leaving them like white spikes seen through the water. The dam leaked in a hundred places between and under the planks, and there were as many jets of various size and curve. Reminds me of the tail-piece in Bewick, of landlord drawing beer(?) from two holes, and knowledge of artist shown.
Hear and see a goldfinch, on the ground.
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 4, 1856
H. D. Thoreau, Journal, May 4, 1856
I see republican swallows flying over river at Island. See April 30, 1856 ("I was surprised by the great number of swallows—white-bellied and barn swallows and perhaps republican — flying round and round, or skimming very low over the meadow, just laid bare, only a foot above the ground . . . There were a thousand or more of swallows, and I think that they had recently arrived together on their migration."); May 11, 1856 ("There are many swallows circling low over the river behind Monroe’s, — bank swallows, barn, republican, chimney, and white-bellied. These are all circling together a foot or two over the water, passing within ten or twelve feet of me in my boat."); May 29, 1859 (“The republican swallow at Hosmer's barn just begun to lay.”)
These fuzzy gnats that the swallows of the 30th were catching. See April 30, 1855 ("Those myriads of little fuzzy gnats mentioned on the 21st and 28th must afford an abundance of food to insectivorous birds . . .There were plenty of myrtle-birds and yellow redpolls where the gnats were.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Fuzzy Gnats (tipulidæ)
The river is gone down so much . . . that I now observe the tortoises on the bottom, a sternothaerus among them. See April 1, 1860 (" As we paddle up the Assabet we . . . see the sternothærus on the bottom."); April 14, 1855 ("The musk tortoise stirring on the bottom. "); Compare July 3, 1856 ("The tortoises improve every rock, and willow slanting over the water, and every floating board and rail. You will see one on the summit of a black willow stump several feet high, and two or more part way up. Some tumble from a height of five or six feet into the water before you.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Musk Turtle (Sternothaerus odoratus)
Hear the something like twe twe twe twé, ter té te twe twe of the myrtle-bird, and see the bird on the swamp white oaks by Island. See May 4, 1855 ("Myrtle-birds numerous, and sing their tea lee, tea lee in morning. White-throated sparrows here, and numerous."); See also April 11, 1853 ("At Natural History Rooms . . . The yellow-rump warbler (what is it in Nuttall?) is bluish-gray, with two white bars on wings, a bright yellow crown, side breasts, and rump. Female less distinct."); May 1, 1855 ("The myrtle-bird is one of the commonest and tamest birds now. It catches insects like a pewee, darting off from its perch and returning to it, and sings something like a -chill chill, chill chill, chill chill, a-twear, twill twill twee or it may be all tw – not loud; a little like the F. hyemalis , or more like pine warbler – rapid, and more and more intense as it advances."); May 1, 1858 ("I also hear the myrtle-birds on the Island woods. Their common note is somewhat like the chill-lill or jingle of the F. hyemalis.");May 6, 1855 ("Myrtle-birds very numerous just beyond Second Division . They sing like an instrument teee teee te, ttt, ttt, on very various keys, i. e. high or low, some times beginning like phe-be. As I sat by roadside one drew near perched within ten feet, and dived once or twice with a curve to catch the little black flies about my head, coming once within three feet, not minding me much.")
The aspen there (the Island) just begun to leaf. See April 14, 1855 ("The Populus tremuloides by the Island shed pollen — a very few catkins — yesterday at least."); May 2, 1855 ("The young aspens are the first of indigenous trees conspicuously leafed"); May 2, 1859 ("I am surprised by the tender yellowish green of the aspen leaf just expanded suddenly");May 5, 1858 ("The aspen leaves at Island to-day appear as big as a nine pence suddenly"); May 11, 1854 (" I am surprised to find the great poplar at the Island conspicuously in leaf, — leaves more than an inch broad, from top to bottom of the tree, and are already fluttering in the wind, — and others near it — conspicuously before any other native tree, as tenderly green, wet, and glossy as if this shower had opened them. . . . The earliest of our indigenous trees, then, to leaf conspicuously is the early tremble."); May 17, 1860 ("Standing in the meadow near the early aspen at the island, I hear the first fluttering of leaves, - a peculiar sound, at first unaccountable to me");
The trembling aspens
offer me a new summer
fluttering my thoughts.
See also A Book of the Seasons, the Aspens.
See a peetweet on Dove Rock. See April 30, 1856 (“As I go along the Assabet, a peetweet skims away from the shore.”); See also April 21, 1855 ("A peep, peetweet, on the shore."); May 2, 1858 (“Peetweet on a rock”); May 2, 1859 (" The river seems really inhabited when the peetweet is back and those little light-winged millers (?)"); May 8, 1860 (" The simple peep peep of the peetweet, as it flies away from the shore") [Thoreau's Peetweet is the Spotted Sandpiper (Actitis macularia)]
Dove Rock. See January 24, 1856 ("There is much of the water milkweed on the little island just above Dove Rock."); April 23, 1856 ("Along the shore by Dove Rock I hear a faint tseep like a fox colored sparrow, and, looking sharp, detect upon a maple a white-throated sparrow . . . Returning, when near the Dove Rock saw a musquash crossing in front . . . Hear the yellow redpoll sing on the maples below Dove Rock"); May 19, 1856 (“As I sail up the reach of the Assabet above Dove Rock with a fair wind, a traveller riding along the highway is watching my sail while he hums a tune . . . As he looked at my sail, I listened to his singing. Perchance they were equally poetic, and we repaid each other.”); November 18, 1857 ("There is the meadow behind Brooks Clark’s . . .The stream which drains this empties into the Assabet at Dove Rock"); ([Stedman Buttrick] once, in the fall, shot a mackerel gull on what I call Dove Rock."); August 13, 1858 ("Young white maples below Dove Rock are an inch and a half high, and red maples elsewhere about one inch high.")
Luke Dodge . . . in his eighty-third year . . . died in Concord on September 29, 1869, age 94 yrs. 11 mos. 13 days.
Went up Dodge’s Brook and across Barrett’s dam. See May 31, 1853 ("In the meanwhile, Farmer, who was hoeing, came up to the wall, and we fell into a talk about Dodge's Brook, which runs through his farm.")
Shad-flies on the water, schooner-like. See May 1, 1854 ("The water is strewn with myriads of wrecked shad-flies, erect on the surface, with their wings up like so many schooners all headed one way.”) ; May 9, 1854 ("[Harris ] says the shad-flies (with streamers and erect wings ) are ephemeræ.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Insect Hatches in Spring
Hear and see a goldfinch, on the ground. See May 4, 1855 (" No goldfinches for long time."); May 17, 1856 ("A goldfinch twitters over."); May 18, 1856 ("A female goldfinch on an oak . . . When I get over the fence, a flock of twenty or more, male and female, rise from amid the stubble, and, alighting on the oaks, sing pleasantly all together, in a lively manner."); See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Goldfinch
May 4. See A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, May 4.
Dove Rock just peeps out –
see a peetweet teetering
and skimming away.
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Shad-flies on the water
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau
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