68 



THE OOLOGIST. 



tenth of June, a little boy said, to me 

 that he knew of a nest of a little ground 

 spaiTOw which contained three white 

 aggs, SO I told him to wait until the four 

 were deposited, then I would go with 

 him to the nest. On the fifteenth I 

 looked up the boy and he started out 

 with me; bringing along a dog which 

 had helped find the nest. 



On entei'ing a sage field, the dog, 

 which had gone ahead, flushed the bird 

 and seemed to enjoy chasing her 

 around; for the foolish bird (foolish I 

 may say in one sense but in another 

 exceedingly wise) kept flying around 

 sometimes almost touching the ground 

 until pretty well tired out when she 

 alighted in the top of a small pine to 

 see what would become of her eggs. 

 All the time chirping very loudly. 

 There were four slightly incubated 

 eggs in the nest and the sun shining as 

 it was upon them gave to them a beau- 

 tiful pinkish appearance, bringing viv- 

 idly to my mind the scenes surrounding 

 the taking of my first set of the Flicker 

 which showed the yolk through the 

 translucent shell, beautifying them so 

 much. 



It seemed very strange that the bird 

 should have selected such an open 

 place, in which to build her nest when 

 all around was thicker sage. With the 

 exception of the tussock within which 

 the nest was placed, there was not a 

 bush or much grass nearer than six or 

 eight feet. It might have been that she 

 could find it easier more probable 

 though because an enemy could be seen 

 very much sooner. 



The materials used in building the 

 nest were wholly of fine grasses. It 

 was very slightly domed and was a 

 rather frail structure when placed be- 

 side my other nests of this species. A 

 hollow of about an inch deep was 

 scratched out by the birds for the nest. 



The next nest I examined was placed 

 in a graveyard, only a few feet from a 

 walk. When we came in. the female, 



which was on, allowed us to come with- 

 in a few feet before leaving and this 

 time only ran a f 3W yards before taking 

 flight. Four fresh eggs were what the 

 •nest contained. 



A few week's later another nest was 

 found within ten feet of a sidewalk, 

 over which several hundred people 

 passed daily. It was on the campus of 

 Guilford College, N. C, between the 

 atheletic fields and one of the dormit- 

 ories; hence the birds must hsve been 

 disturbed very much by the boys run- 

 ning across the field, sometimes almost 

 stepping on it. The Young Men's 

 Christian Association Hall was within 

 ten yards also, which was undergoing 

 repairs at this time, so I think that the 

 birds must have had quite a noisy place 

 in which to live; yet, they built their 

 nest and deposited the eggs which 

 would have hatched in a few days if 

 one of the boys had not -disturbed it. 

 Both of the last two described nests 

 were found in May. 



The first -time I ever saw a young 

 bird was one morning when I was going 

 through a pea patch, a sage field bord- 

 ering this, in which a pair had succeed- 

 ed in raising a brood. My dog had 

 gone ahead and suddenly a little bird 

 that could hardly fiy, flew up (uttering 

 a sound something like chee c/iee), which 

 passed me; the mother was right after 

 it and as soon as the little fellow came 

 to the ground, she quick as a flash dart- 

 ed down to the same place, soon with 

 wings spread and dangling legs she 

 arose flying a few feet then ran along 

 as if wounded or in great distress, only 

 to rise again keeping this up for several 

 yards. I at once began chasing her, 

 thinking all the time I was after the 

 young bird and had gone quite a dis- 

 tance before finding out my mistake. 



Upon discovering that I had been de- 

 ceived, I hurriedly went back to where 

 the bird had stopped and found him 

 snugly hid among the peas. He allow- 

 ed me to almost touch him before tak- 



