152 THE BOBOLINK'S NEST. 



upon my going, for he started from his high 

 perch directly toward me. Swiftly and with all 

 his force he flew, and about twenty feet from me 

 swooped down so that I thought he would cer- 

 tainly strike my face. I instinctively dodged, 

 and he passed over, so near that the wind from 

 his wings fanned my face. This was a hint I 

 could not refuse to take. 1 left him, for the 

 time. 



That evening when we went for our usual call, 

 lo ! the nest was empty. At not more than seven 

 or eight days of age, those precocious infants had 

 started out in the world I That explained the 

 conduct of the anxious papa in the afternoon, 

 and I forgave him on the spot. I understood 

 his fear that I should discover or step on his 

 babies three, scattered and scrambling about 

 under all that depth of grass. The abandoned 

 homestead, which we carefully examined, proved 

 to be merely a cup-shaped hollow in the ground, 

 slightly protected by a thin lining. 



In a few days the wandering younglings were 

 up in front of the house, where we could watch 

 the parents drop into the grass with food ; and 

 where, of course, they were safe from anybody's 

 intrusion. I had one more encounter with his 

 lordship. After the young had been out a week 

 or more, they seemed in their moving about to 

 get back near to the old place. As I took my 



