P.M.—To tortoise eggs, Marlborough road.

  Potentilla Norvegica again. I go over linnæa sproutlands. The panicled cornel berries are whitening, but already mostly fallen . . .

  I open the painted tortoise nest of June 10th, and find a young turtle partly out of his shell . He is roundish and the sternum clear uniform pink. The marks on the sides are pink. The upper shell is fifteen sixteenths of an inch plus by thirteen sixteenths. He is already wonderfully strong and precocious. Though those eyes never saw the light before, he watches me very warily, even at a distance. With what vigor he crawls out of the hole I have made, over opposing weeds! He struggles in my fingers with great strength . . .