Bruce Shanks (1908-1980)

[inscription reads] " September 28, 1914 / Awake at 6:00. / Look out of window eastward. Half of horizon is brilliant yellow; trees blackish; heavy frost. Roofs, & grass, white. Crystal air. / Just as the sun struck the tip-top foliage of some trees southward, up out of the south came a murmurous noise, sounding like grease spattering in a thousand skillets, going louder and louder, till – wonderful! a million blackbirds! each & every throat pouring down a hundred chirppings (sic). They were a splendid sight, as they "