1852 in Thoreau’s Journal:
The landscape from Fair Haven Hill looks Novemberry—bare gray limbs & twigs in the swamps & where many young (or shrub) oaks have lost their leaves—You hear the rustling of oak & walnut leaves in the air. There is a ripple on the river from the cool northerly wind—the plants are sere. It is the month of withered oak leaves.
1853 in Thoreau’s Journal:
There are very few phenomena which can be described indifferently as occurring at different seasons of the year, for they will occur with some essential difference.
1857 in Thoreau’s Journal:
It is a phenomenon peculiar to this season, when the twigs are bare and the air is clear.