THE OOLOGIST 



273 



four cracked and broken ones of the 

 rightful owner! These, I believe were 

 deliberately broken by the intruder. 

 If not, why should only the eggs of 

 the Bobolinks suffer such indignities? 

 When four or five days old, the 

 young are not nearly so well guarded 

 as during the first few days of their 

 existence. At this period the parents 

 seem to feel little or no responsibility 

 when an intruder approaches their off- 

 spring. The female simply flies to 



some other part of the field, and the 

 male, after making a spectacular dive 

 at her, flies high into the air and after 

 singing loudly, circles once or twice 

 and then returns to his usual perch on 

 a near by tree or fence post. I have 

 seen this action repeated time and 

 again when the female is either leav- 

 ing or returning to the nest. 



The young leave the nest when 

 about two weeks old and at this age 

 they are extremely hard to find, as 



