The year is but a succession of days,
and I see that I could assign some office to each day
which, summed up, would be the history of the year.
Henry Thoreau, August 24, 1852
Am surprised to find
cassia so obvious
and so abundant.
And the spearmint
so intoxicates me that
I am bewildered.
By the discovery of one new plant
all bounds seem to be infinitely removed.
A blue heron with
its great undulating wings
and leisurely flight.
August 16, 1858
August 16, 2020
These are locust days. August 16, 1852
I hear them on the elms in the street, but cannot tell where they are. August 16, 1852
Loud is their song, drowning many others, but men appear not to distinguish it, though it pervades their ears as the dust their eyes. August 16, 1852
Hear it raining again early when I awake, as it did yesterday, still and steady, as if the season were troubled with a diabetes. August 16, 1858
River about ten and a half inches above summer level. August 16, 1860
The river is exceedingly fair this afternoon, and there are few handsomer reaches than that by the leaning oak, the deep place, where the willows make a perfect shore. August 16, 1852
Raise the river two feet above summer level and let it be running off, and you can hardly swim against it. August 16, 1856
It has fallen about fifteen inches from the height. August 16, 1856
It has fallen about fifteen inches from the height. August 16, 1856
The river is exceedingly fair this afternoon, and there are few handsomer reaches than that by the leaning oak, the deep place, where the willows make a perfect shore. August 16, 1852
By the leaning oak,
the deep place where the willows
make a perfect shore.
According to [Minott], the Holt is at the “diving ash,” where is some of the deepest water in the river. August 16, 1858)
A three-ribbed goldenrod on railroad causeway, two to three feet high, abundantly out before Solidago nemoralis. August 16, 1858
Desmodium paniculatum in the wood-path northeast of Flint's Pond.August 16, 1853
Its flowers turn blue-green in drying. August 16, 1853
Desmodium paniculatum in the wood-path northeast of Flint's Pond.August 16, 1853
Its flowers turn blue-green in drying. August 16, 1853
Apparently the Canada plum began to be ripe about the 10th. August 16, 1860
Hyriophyllam ainbiguum, apparently var.
larnosain, except that it is not nearly lindar-leafed but
pectinate, well out how long? August 16, 1857
Thalictrum Comuti is now generally done. August 16, 1858
Galeopsis tetrahit, common hemp-nettle, in roadside by Keyes's. How long? Flower like hedge-nettle. August 16, 1852
Apios tuberosa, ground-nut, a day or two. August 16, 1852
I must look for the rudbeckia which Bradford says he found yesterday behind Joe Clark's. August 16, 1852
Apios tuberosa, ground-nut, a day or two. August 16, 1852
I must look for the rudbeckia which Bradford says he found yesterday behind Joe Clark's. August 16, 1852
Agrinzonia Eupatoria, small-flowered (yellow) plant with hispid fruit, two or three feet high, Turnpike, at Tuttle's peat meadow. August 16, 1851
The Polygonum orientale, probably some days, by Turnpike Bridge, a very rich rose-color large flowers, distinguished by its salver-shaped upper sheaths. August 16, 1853
It is a color as rich, I think, as that of the cardinal-flower. August 16, 1853
The hardhack commonly grows in low meadow-pastures which are uneven with grassy clods or hummocks, such as the almshouse pasture by Cardinal Ditch. August 16, 1858
I am surprised to find that where of late years there have been so many cardinal-flowers, there are now very few. August 16, 1858
So much does a plant fluctuate from season to season. August 16, 1858
Here I found nearly white ones once. August 16, 1858
White morning-glory up the Assabet. August 16, 1856
Almost all flowers and animals may be found white. August 16, 1858
Channing tells me that he saw a white bobolink in a large flock of them to-day. August 16, 1858
As in a large number of cardinal-flowers you may find a white one, so in a large flock of bobolinks, also, it seems, you may find a white one. August 16, 1858
Hemp (Cannabis
sativa), said by Gray to have been introduced; not
named by Bigelow. Is it not a native? August 16, 1851
[Minott] used to love to hear the goldfinches sing on the hemp which grew near his gate. August 16, 1858
I hear these birds on my way thither, between two and three o’clock:
I hear these birds on my way thither, between two and three o’clock:
- goldfinches twitter over;
- the song sparrow sings several times;
- hear a low warble from bluebirds, with apparently their young,
- the link of many bobolinks (and see large flocks on the fences and weeds; they are largish-looking birds with yellow throats);
- a large flock of red-wings goes tchucking over;
- a lark twitters;
- crows caw;
- a robin peeps;
- kingbirds twitter, as ever. August 16, 1858
Also saw a large telltale, I think yellow-shanks, whose note I at first mistook for a jay's, giving the alarm to some partridges. August 16, 1853
In my boating of late I have several times scared up a couple of summer ducks of this year, bred in our meadows. August 16, 1858
They allowed me to come quite near, and helped to people the-river. August 16, 1858
I have not seen them for some days. August 16, 1858
August 16, 2017
Goodwin shot them, and Mrs., who never sailed on the river, ate them. August 16, 1858
Of course, she knows not what she did. August 16, 1858
What if I should eat her canary? Thus we share each other’s sins as well as burdens.
The lady who watches admiringly the matador shares his deed. August 16, 1858
They belonged to me, as much as to any one, when they were alive, but it was considered of more importance that Mrs. should taste the flavor of them dead than that I should enjoy the beauty of them alive. August 16, 1858
Talked with Minott, who sits in his wood-shed, having, as I notice, several seats there for visitors, —one a block on the sawhorse, another a patchwork mat on a wheelbarrow, etc., etc. August 16, 1858
His half-grown chickens, which roost overhead, perch on his shoulder or knee. August 16, 1858
He tells me some of his hunting stories again. August 16, 1858
He always lays a good deal of stress on the kind of gun he used, as if he had bought a new one every year, when probably he never had more than two or three in his life. August 16, 1858
In this case it was a “half-stocked” one, a little “cocking-piece,” and whenever he finished his game he used the word “gavel,” I think in this way, “gave him gavel,” i. e. made him bite the dust, or settled him. August 16, 1858
Speaking of foxes, he said: “As soon as the nights get to be cool, if you step outdoors at nine or ten o’clock when all is still, you’ll hear them bark out on the flat behind the houses, half a mile off, or sometimes whistle through their noses. August 16, 1858.
His half-grown chickens, which roost overhead, perch on his shoulder or knee. August 16, 1858
He tells me some of his hunting stories again. August 16, 1858
He always lays a good deal of stress on the kind of gun he used, as if he had bought a new one every year, when probably he never had more than two or three in his life. August 16, 1858
In this case it was a “half-stocked” one, a little “cocking-piece,” and whenever he finished his game he used the word “gavel,” I think in this way, “gave him gavel,” i. e. made him bite the dust, or settled him. August 16, 1858
Speaking of foxes, he said: “As soon as the nights get to be cool, if you step outdoors at nine or ten o’clock when all is still, you’ll hear them bark out on the flat behind the houses, half a mile off, or sometimes whistle through their noses. August 16, 1858.
I find the dog's-bane (Apocynum androsoemifolium) bark not the nearly so strong as that of the A. cannabinum. August 16, 1856
Amaranthus hypochondriacus, how long? August 16, 1856
Myriophyllum ambiguum, apparently var. limosum, except that it is not nearly linear-leafed but pectinate, well out how long? August 16, 1857
Diplopappus linariifolius, apparently several days. August 16, 1856
Ambrosia pollen now begins to yellow my clothes. August 16, 1856
Chenopodium hybridum, a tall rank weed, five feet at least, dark-green, with a heavy (poisonous?) odor compared to that of stramonium; great maple(?)- shaped leaves. August 16, 1856
How deadly this peculiar heavy odor! August 16, 1856
Cynoglossum officinale, a long time, mostly gone to seed, at Bull's Path and north roadside below Leppleman's. August 16, 1856
Its great radical leaves made me think of smooth mullein. August 16, 1856
The flower has a very peculiar, rather sickening odor; Sophia thought like a warm apple pie just from the oven (I did not perceive this). August 16, 1856
A pretty flower, however. August 16, 1856
I thoughtlessly put a handful of the nutlets into my pocket with my handkerchief. August 16, 1856
But it took me a long time to pick them out my handkerchief when I got home, and I pulled out many threads in the process. August 16, 1856
At roadside opposite Leighton's, just this side his barn, Monarda fistulosa, wild bergamot, nearly done, with terminal whorls and fragrance mixed of balm and summer savory. August 16, 1856
The petioles are not ciliated like those on Strawberry Hill road. August 16, 1856
How deadly this peculiar heavy odor! August 16, 1856
Cynoglossum officinale, a long time, mostly gone to seed, at Bull's Path and north roadside below Leppleman's. August 16, 1856
Its great radical leaves made me think of smooth mullein. August 16, 1856
The flower has a very peculiar, rather sickening odor; Sophia thought like a warm apple pie just from the oven (I did not perceive this). August 16, 1856
A pretty flower, however. August 16, 1856
I thoughtlessly put a handful of the nutlets into my pocket with my handkerchief. August 16, 1856
But it took me a long time to pick them out my handkerchief when I got home, and I pulled out many threads in the process. August 16, 1856
At roadside opposite Leighton's, just this side his barn, Monarda fistulosa, wild bergamot, nearly done, with terminal whorls and fragrance mixed of balm and summer savory. August 16, 1856
The petioles are not ciliated like those on Strawberry Hill road. August 16, 1856
Am surprised to find the cassia so obvious and abundant. August 16, 1856
Can see it yellowing the field twenty-five rods off, from top of hill. August 16, 1856
It is perhaps the prevailing shrub over several acres of moist rocky meadow pasture on the brook; grows in bunches, three to five feet high (from the ground this year), in the neighborhood of alders, hardhack, elecampane, etc. August 16, 1856
The lower flowers are turning white and going to seed, — pods already three inches long, — a few upper not yet opened. August 16, 1856
It resounds with the hum of bumblebees. August 16, 1856
It is branched above, some of the half-naked (of leaves) racemes twenty inches long by five or six wide. August 16, 1856
Leaves alternate, of six or eight pairs of leafets and often an odd one at base, locust-like. August 16, 1856
Looked as if they had shut up in the night. August 16, 1856
Mrs. Pratt says they do. August 16, 1856
E. Hoar says she has known it here since she was a child. August 16, 1856
Can see it yellowing the field twenty-five rods off, from top of hill. August 16, 1856
It is perhaps the prevailing shrub over several acres of moist rocky meadow pasture on the brook; grows in bunches, three to five feet high (from the ground this year), in the neighborhood of alders, hardhack, elecampane, etc. August 16, 1856
The lower flowers are turning white and going to seed, — pods already three inches long, — a few upper not yet opened. August 16, 1856
It resounds with the hum of bumblebees. August 16, 1856
It is branched above, some of the half-naked (of leaves) racemes twenty inches long by five or six wide. August 16, 1856
Leaves alternate, of six or eight pairs of leafets and often an odd one at base, locust-like. August 16, 1856
Looked as if they had shut up in the night. August 16, 1856
Mrs. Pratt says they do. August 16, 1856
E. Hoar says she has known it here since she was a child. August 16, 1856
Some elecampane with the cassia is six feet high, and blades of lower leaves twenty inches by seven or nine. August 16, 1856
The cynoglossum by roadside opposite, and, by side of tan-yard, the apparently true Mentha viridis, or spearmint, growing very rankly in a dense bed, some four feet high, spikes rather dense, one to one and a half inches long, stem often reddish, leaves nearly sessile. Say August 1st at least. August 16, 1856
What a variety of old garden herbs — mints, etc. — are naturalized along an old settled road, like this to Boston which the British travelled! And then there is the site, apparently, of an old garden by the tan-yard, where the spearmint grows so rankly. August 16, 1856
I am intoxicated with the fragrance. August 16, 1856
The cynoglossum by roadside opposite, and, by side of tan-yard, the apparently true Mentha viridis, or spearmint, growing very rankly in a dense bed, some four feet high, spikes rather dense, one to one and a half inches long, stem often reddish, leaves nearly sessile. Say August 1st at least. August 16, 1856
What a variety of old garden herbs — mints, etc. — are naturalized along an old settled road, like this to Boston which the British travelled! And then there is the site, apparently, of an old garden by the tan-yard, where the spearmint grows so rankly. August 16, 1856
I am intoxicated with the fragrance. August 16, 1856
All the roadside is the site of an old garden where fragrant herbs have become naturalized, — hounds-tongue, bergamot, spearmint, elecampane, etc. August 16, 1856
I see even the tiger lily, with its bulbs, growing by the roadside far from houses (near Leighton's graveyard). August 16, 1856
Though I find only one new plant (the cassia), yet old acquaintances grow so rankly, and the spearmint intoxicates me so, that I am bewildered, as it were by a variety of new things. August 16, 1856
An infinite novelty. August 16, 1856
I think I have found many new plants, and am surprised when I can reckon but one. August 16, 1856
A little distance from my ordinary walk and a little variety in the growth or luxuriance will produce this illusion. August 16, 1856
By the discovery of one new plant all bounds seem to be infinitely removed. August 16, 1856
I see even the tiger lily, with its bulbs, growing by the roadside far from houses (near Leighton's graveyard). August 16, 1856
Though I find only one new plant (the cassia), yet old acquaintances grow so rankly, and the spearmint intoxicates me so, that I am bewildered, as it were by a variety of new things. August 16, 1856
An infinite novelty. August 16, 1856
I think I have found many new plants, and am surprised when I can reckon but one. August 16, 1856
A little distance from my ordinary walk and a little variety in the growth or luxuriance will produce this illusion. August 16, 1856
By the discovery of one new plant all bounds seem to be infinitely removed. August 16, 1856
I find more and other plants than I counted on. August 16, 1856
Amphicarpaea some time; pods seven eighths of an inch long. August 16, 1856
Mimvlus ringens four feet high, and chelone six feet high! August 16, 1856
Am frequently surprised to find how imperfectly water-plants are known. August 16, 1856
Even good shore botanists are out of their element on the water. August 16, 1856
I would suggest to young botanists to get not only a botany-box but a boat, and know the water-plants not so much from the shore as from the water side. August 16, 1856
Amphicarpaea some time; pods seven eighths of an inch long. August 16, 1856
Mimvlus ringens four feet high, and chelone six feet high! August 16, 1856
Am frequently surprised to find how imperfectly water-plants are known. August 16, 1856
Even good shore botanists are out of their element on the water. August 16, 1856
I would suggest to young botanists to get not only a botany-box but a boat, and know the water-plants not so much from the shore as from the water side. August 16, 1856
Know the water-plants
not so much from the shore as
from the water side.
August 16, 1856
Minott says that the meadow-grass will be good for nothing after the late overflow, when it goes down.
The water has steamed the grass. August 16, 1856
I see the rue all turned yellow by it prematurely. August 16, 1856
Down river in boat with George Bradford. August 16, 1852.
With Russell to Fair Haven by boat. August 16, 1854
At the steam mill sand-bank is the distinct shadow of our shadows, — first on the water, then the double one on the bank bottom to bottom, one being upside down, — three in all, — one on water, two on land or bushes. August 16, 1854
At the steam mill sand-bank is the distinct shadow of our shadows, — first on the water, then the double one on the bank bottom to bottom, one being upside down, — three in all, — one on water, two on land or bushes. August 16, 1854
Bathing at Merrick's old place, am surprised to find how swift the current. August 16, 1856
Goodwin has come again to fish, with three poles, hoping to catch some more of those large eels. August 16, 1858
A blue heron, with its great undulating wings, prominent cutwater, and leisurely flight, goes over southwest, cutting off the bend of the river west of our house. August 16, 1858.
Goodwin says he saw one two or three days ago, and also that he saw some black ducks. August 16, 1858
A muskrat is swimming up the stream, betrayed by two long diverging ripples, or ripple-lines, two or three rods long each, and inclosing about seventy-five degrees, methinks. August 16, 1858.
The rat generally dives just before reaching the shore and is not seen again, probably entering some burrow in the bank. August 16, 1858
Am surprised to see that the snapping turtle which I found floating dead June 16th, and placed to rot in the cleft of a rock, has been all cleaned, so that there is no smell of carrion. August 16, 1858
The scales have nearly all fallen off, and the sternum fallen apart, and the bony frame of the back is loose and dropping to pieces, as if it were many years old. August 16, 1858
It is a wonderful piece of dovetailing, the ends of the ribs (which are narrow and rib-like) set into sockets in the middle of the marginal bones, whose joints are in each case between the ribs. August 16, 1858
There are many large fish-bones within the shell. August 16, 1858
Was it killed by the fish it swallowed? The bones not being dispersed, I suppose it was cleaned by insects. August 16, 1858
Very bad weather of late for pressing plants. August 16, 1856
My plants in press are in a sad condition; mildew has invaded them during the late damp weather, even those that were nearly dry. August 16, 1856
Give me the dry heat of July. August 16, 1856
My plants in press are in a sad condition; mildew has invaded them during the late damp weather, even those that were nearly dry. August 16, 1856
Give me the dry heat of July. August 16, 1856
Even growing leaves out of doors are spotted with fungi now, much more than mine in press. August 16, 1856
Yesterday also in the Marlborough woods, perceived everywhere that offensive mustiness of decaying fungi. August 16, 1853
How earthy old people become, — mouldy as the grave! Their wisdom smacks of the earth.
There is no foretaste of immortality in it. August 16, 1853
They remind me of earthworms and mole crickets. August 16, 1853
I notice that when a frog, a Rana halecina, jumps, it drops water at the same instant, as a turtle often when touched as she is preparing to lay. August 16, 1858
I see many frogs jump from the side of the railroad causeway toward the ditch at its base, and each drops some water. August 16, 1858
They apparently have this supply of water with them in warm and dry weather, at least when they leave the water, and, returning to it, leave it behind as of no further use. August 16, 1858
At sunset paddled to Hill. August 16, 1858
At sunset, the glow being confined to the north, it tinges the rails on the causeway lake-color, but behind they are a dead dark blue. August 16, 1852
At sunset, the glow being confined to the north, it tinges the rails on the causeway lake-color, but behind they are a dead dark blue. August 16, 1852
At sunset I hear a low short warble from a golden robin, and the notes of the wood pewee. August 16, 1858.
August 16, 2014
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau:
*****
May 31, 1853 ("The fact that a rare and beautiful flower which we never saw. . . may be found in our immediate neighborhood, is very suggestive. . . The boundaries of the actual are no more fixed and rigid than the elasticity of our imaginations")
July 11, 1857 ("Apocynum cannabinum, with its small white flowers and narrow sepals")
July 28, 1859 ("The sweet and plaintive note of the pewee is now prominent, since most other birds are more hushed. I hear young families of them answering each other from a considerable distance, especially about the river.");
July 29, 1859 ("The water milfoil (the ambiguum var. nutans), otherwise not seen, shows itself. This is observed only at lowest water.")
July 30, 1856 (“Rudbeckia laciniata, perhaps a week.”)
August 1, 1857 ("Small Apocynum cannabinum on the rocks .")July 30, 1856 (“Rudbeckia laciniata, perhaps a week.”)
August 5, 1856 ("At the Assabet stone bridge, apparently freshly in flower, . . . apparently the Apocynum cannabinum var. hypericifolium (?).”)
August 6, 1858 (“The note of the wood pewee is now more prominent, while birds generally are silent.
August 8, 1852 ("No man ever makes a discovery, even an observation of the least importance, but he is advertised of the fact by a joy that surprises him")
August 9, 1856 ("Again I am surprised to see the Apocynum cannabinum close to the rock at the Island.")
August 9, 1856 ("The notes of the wood pewee and warbling vireo are more prominent of late, and of the goldfinch twittering over.”)
August 10, 1854 ("The tinkling notes of goldfinches and bobolinks which we hear nowadays are of one character and peculiar to the season. ")August 9, 1856 ("The notes of the wood pewee and warbling vireo are more prominent of late, and of the goldfinch twittering over.”)
August 11, 1856 ("Mr. Bradford . . .gives me a sprig of Cassia Marilandica,wild senna, found by Minot Pratt just below Leighton's by the road side.")
August12, 1858 (". It is surprising how young birds, especially sparrows of all kinds, abound now, and bobolinks and wood pewees and kingbirds")
August 12, 1858 ("The note of the wood pewee is a prominent and common one now. You see old and young together.").
August 12, 1853 ("See the blue herons opposite Fair Haven Hill, as if they had bred here")
August 12, 1858 ("The note of the wood pewee is a prominent and common one now. You see old and young together.").
August 12, 1853 ("See the blue herons opposite Fair Haven Hill, as if they had bred here")
August 12, 1854 (" I see goldfinches nowadays on the lanceolate thistles, apparently after the seeds")
August 13, 1854 (" I see where the pasture thistles have apparently been picked to pieces (for their seeds? by the goldfinch?), and the seedless down strews the ground"")
August 14, 1858 (" The Canada thistle down is now begun to fly, and I see the goldfinch upon it. ")August 13, 1854 (" I see where the pasture thistles have apparently been picked to pieces (for their seeds? by the goldfinch?), and the seedless down strews the ground"")
August 14, 1858 ("The goldfinch, a prevailing note, with variations into a fine song. . . . The more characteristic notes would appear to be the wood pewee’s and the goldfinch’s, ")
August 14, 1858 ("The wood pewee, with its young, peculiarly common and prominent. . . These might be called the pewee-days.")
August 14,1859 ("If you would know the depth of the water on these few shoalest places of Musketaquid, ask the blue heron that wades and fishes there")
August 14, 1853 ("there are countless great fungi of various forms and colors, the produce of the warm rains and muggy weather . . . and for most of my walk the air is tainted with a musty, carrion like odor, in some places very offensive")
August 14, 1853 ("there are countless great fungi of various forms and colors, the produce of the warm rains and muggy weather . . . and for most of my walk the air is tainted with a musty, carrion like odor, in some places very offensive")
August 14, 1853 (" I hear no wood thrushes for a week. The pea-wai still, and sometimes the golden robin.")
August 14,1859("A blue heron standing in very shallow water amid the weeds of the bar and pluming itself.")August 15, 1854 ("On the top of the Hill I see the goldfinch eating the seeds of the Canada thistle. I rarely approach a bed of them or other thistles nowadays but I hear the cool twitter of the goldfinch about it")
August 15, 1854 ("I rarely approach a bed . . . thistles nowadays but I hear the cool twitter of the goldfinch about it.")
August 15, 1852 ("See a blue heron on the meadow.")
August 15, 1852 ("That clear ring like an alder locust (is it a cricket ?) for some time past is a sound which belongs to the season.")August 15, 1852 ("See a blue heron on the meadow.")
August 15, 1852 ("I see a dense, compact flock of bobolinks going off in the air over a field. They cover the rails and alders, and go rustling off with a brassy, tinkling note as I approach, revealing their yellow breasts and bellies.")
August 15, 1852 ("I see large flocks of bobolinks on the Union Turnpike
August 15, 1854 (" I see a dense, compact flock of bobolinks going off in the air over a field. They cover the rails and alders, and go rustling off with a brassy, tinkling note as I approach, revealing their yellow breasts and bellies. This is an autumnal sight, that small flock of grown birds in the afternoon sky.")
August 15, 1860 ("See a blue heron.")
August 15, 1860 ("See a blue heron.")
August 17, 1851("I see a goldfinch go twittering through the still, louring day, and am reminded of the peeping flocks which will soon herald the thoughtful season.")
August 18, 1852 ("Rudbeckia laciniata, sunflower-like tall cone-flower, behind Joe Clark's.")
August 18, 1854 ("The bobolinks alight on the wool-grass.")
August 18, 1858 (“Almost every bush along this brook is now alive with these birds.”)
August 18, 1856 ("I hear the steady (not intermittent) shrilling of apparently the alder cricket, clear, loud, and autumnal, a season sound. Hear it, but see it not. It reminds me of past autumns and the lapse of time, suggests a pleasing, thoughtful melancholy, like the sound of the flail. Such preparation, such an outfit has our life, and so little brought to pass! ")August 18, 1854 ("The bobolinks alight on the wool-grass.")
August 18, 1858 (“Almost every bush along this brook is now alive with these birds.”)
August 18, 1860 ("The note of the wood pewee sounds prominent of late.")
August 18, 1858 (“One appeared to answer the other, and sometimes they both sung together, — even as if the old were teaching her young. It was not the usual spring note of this bird, but a simple, clear pe-e-eet, rising steadily with one impulse to the end.”)
August 18, 1858 (" Miss Caroline Pratt saw the white bobolink yesterday where Channng saw it the day before, in the midst of a large flock. I go by the place this afternoon and see very large flocks of them, certainly several hundreds in all, and one has a little white on his back, but I do not see the white one. ")
August 19, 1853 ("Flocks of bobolinks go tinkling along about the low willows, and swallows twitter, and a kingbird hovers almost stationary in the air, a foot above the water. "")
August 19, 1858 ("The blue heron has within a week reappeared in our meadows. ")
August 20, 1854 ("Saw a wood pewee . . .It often utters a continuous pe-e-e.")
August 20, 1854 ("5.15 a. m. — To Hill. I hear a gold robin, also faint song of common robin. Wood pewee (fresh); red-wing blackbird with fragmentary trill; bobolinks (the males apparently darker and by themselves); kingbirds; nuthatch heard; yellow-throated vireo, heard and saw, on hickories (have I lately mistaken this for red-eye ?); goldfinch; slate- colored hawk (with white rump and black wing-tips)")
August 22, 1853 ("Surprised to hear a very faint bobolink in the air; the link, link, once or twice later.")
August 21, 1853 ("Methinks I have not heard a robin sing morning or evening of late, but the peawai still ")
August 22, 1858 ("See one or two blue herons every day now")
August 22, 1853 ("Hear a peawai whose note is more like singing — as if it were still incubating — than any other.")August 22, 1853 ("Surprised to hear a very faint bobolink in the air; the link, link, once or twice later.")
August 21, 1853 ("Methinks I have not heard a robin sing morning or evening of late, but the peawai still ")
August 22, 1858 ("See one or two blue herons every day now")
August 25, 1852 ("I hear no birds sing these days, only . . . the mew of a catbird, the link link of a bobolink, or the twitter of a goldfinch, all faint and rare.")
August 24, 1858 ("Edward Hoar brings Cassia Chamoecrista from Greenport, L. I., which must have been out a good while. ")
August 26, 1857 ("B[adford]. has found Cassia Chamoacrista by the side of the back road between Lincoln and Waltham, about two miles this side of Waltham.")
August 31, 1852 ("I observe, on the willows on the east shore, the shadow of my boat and self and oars, upside down...”)
September 10, 1854 ("Last year, for the last three weeks of August, the woods were filled with the strong musty scent of decaying fungi, but this year I have seen very few fungi and have not noticed that odor at all .")
September 12 1852 ("the Polygonum orientale, prince's-feather, in E. Hosmer's grounds.")
September 14, 1854 ("A flock of thirteen tell tales, great yellow-legs, start up with their shrill whistle from the midst of the great Sudbury meadow, and away they sail in a flock.").
October 18, 1853 ("Returning late, we see a double shadow of ourselves and boat, one, the true, quite black, the other directly above it and very faint, on the willows and high bank.")
November 1, 1854 ("Just before a clear sundown, close to the shore on the east side I see a second fainter shadow of the boat, sail, myself, and paddle, etc., directly above and upon the first on the bank . . . I discovered that it was the reflected sun which cast a higher shadow like the true one. As I moved to the west side, the upper shadow rose, grew larger and less perceptible; and at last when I was so near the west shore that I could not see the reflected sun, it disappeared; but then there appeared one upside down in its place!")
December 11, 1855 ("It is only necessary to behold thus the least fact or phenomenon, however familiar, from a point a hair’s breadth aside from our habitual path or routine, to be overcome, enchanted by its beauty and significance.”)
September 10, 1854 ("Last year, for the last three weeks of August, the woods were filled with the strong musty scent of decaying fungi, but this year I have seen very few fungi and have not noticed that odor at all .")
September 12 1852 ("the Polygonum orientale, prince's-feather, in E. Hosmer's grounds.")
September 14, 1854 ("A flock of thirteen tell tales, great yellow-legs, start up with their shrill whistle from the midst of the great Sudbury meadow, and away they sail in a flock.").
October 18, 1853 ("Returning late, we see a double shadow of ourselves and boat, one, the true, quite black, the other directly above it and very faint, on the willows and high bank.")
November 1, 1854 ("Just before a clear sundown, close to the shore on the east side I see a second fainter shadow of the boat, sail, myself, and paddle, etc., directly above and upon the first on the bank . . . I discovered that it was the reflected sun which cast a higher shadow like the true one. As I moved to the west side, the upper shadow rose, grew larger and less perceptible; and at last when I was so near the west shore that I could not see the reflected sun, it disappeared; but then there appeared one upside down in its place!")
December 11, 1855 ("It is only necessary to behold thus the least fact or phenomenon, however familiar, from a point a hair’s breadth aside from our habitual path or routine, to be overcome, enchanted by its beauty and significance.”)
January 23, 1858 ("It is a peculiar sound, quite unlike any other woodland sound that I know . . . What a smothered, ragged, feeble, and unmusical sound is the bark of the fox!.")
If you make the least correctobservation of nature this year,you will have occasion to repeat itwith illustrations the next,and the season and life itself is prolonged.A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, August 16A 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 © 2009-2022
tinyurl.com/HDT16AUGUST
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