24 



THE OOLOGIST. 



NEST AND EGGS OF SORA. 



(Photo by Reinecke.) 



This was to have appeared with article in last issue, but the article was used 



in advance by a mistake. 



ed history of our voluble friend of the 

 meadow-marsh. 



Is the nest really quite difficult to 

 find? One phase of the difficulty lies 

 in the fact that the Bobolink nests 

 in the grass. In its avoidance of any 

 action likely to betray the site, the 

 Bobolink is not more secretive than 

 the Horned Lark in its so-called va- 

 rieties. The latter will step from its 

 nest when an observer approaches, 

 sometimes when the disturber is thirty 

 or forty feet away, sometimes allow- 

 ing the observer to approach quite 

 close before leaving the nest. If the 

 Horned Lark, therefore, nested in 

 grass such as the Bobolink frequents, 

 it would be next to an impossibility to 



find the nest from the movements of 

 the bird. The Bobolink is not more 

 secretive and cautious than some oth- 

 er birds, but the surroundings of its 

 nest tends to ba e the collector and 

 make the quest more than ordinarily 

 bootless. 



In consideration of the bird itself- 

 and its own actions, apart from the 

 baffling surroundings, the Bobolink is 

 far less wary and cautious around its 

 nest than the Horned Lark and per- 

 naps other ground-nesting l)irds. I 

 have watched a Horned Lark spend 

 thirty minutes in getting into its nest, 

 and meanwhile running a quarter of 

 a mile at the least in its maneuver- 

 ing to mislead the possible observer 



