Thoreau writes in his journal:
P. M.—To Clematis Brook via Lee’s.
A pleasant day, growing warmer; a slight haze. Now the hedges and apple trees are alive with fox-colored sparrows, all over the town, and their imperfect strains are occasionally heard. Their clear, fox-colored backs are very handsome. I get quite near to them. Stood quite near to what I called a hairy woodpecker—but, seeing the downy afterward, I am in doubt about it . . .