116 Trans. Acad.’ Sci. of St. Louis 
female was seen May 22, maximum numbers seemed to be 
reached May 23. Not one of the daily visits from June 1 to late 
July failed to disclose Bobolinks, they could not be overlooked. 
From the time of their arrival until the young hatched, fe- 
males seem to be almost non-existant. They are as seclusive as 
their males are obvious. Nests with eggs are almost impossible 
to find for the brooding birds either do not fiush from them 
under any circumstances or slip off through the dense grass at 
the approach of the searcher. Rope dragging over most of the 
Main Subdivision in June, did not locate a nest definitely. 
The female comes to the weed tops with the hatching of her 
young and her sharp ‘‘chink, chink’’ is sign of a nest near. 
By observing a female with food one nest was located June 18 
(not on subdivision) with three eggs and three newly hatched 
young. Another (on the Main Subdivision) was found on July 
17 with young near nest-leaving age. 
The great fervor of song from the males begins to abate after 
the first week of July and gradually the quieted adults and 
young disappear from the breeding ground. In 1926, the breed- 
ing birds were reduced to two or three pairs, by July 9, and 
from then on there were fewer songs than formerly. Even these 
few songs were still further reduced on subsequent July visits 
until on July 21 the last birds noted were adults carrying food 
to belated nestlings, quiet now except for scolding notes. On 
July 29, 1925, large flocks of Bobolinks collected on the weedier 
parts of the subdivision (in patches of Oenothera, Melilotus, 
Ambrosia and Cirsium) and, though the majority of these were 
young birds, a goodly number of adult males were with them in 
various stages ae —_— Their only note now was a pleasantly 
metallic ‘‘chink 
A census of a. males showed fourteen pairs of breeding 
birds on the Main Subdivision (about 90 acres), in mid-June. 
Each of these had a definite territory which any male would 
sharply delimit if he were persistently driven from place to 
place. One such territory was roughly rectangular, sixty by 
ninety yards, about the size of territory of the Lark. Yet the 
males, in their exuberance, frequently flew into each other's 
territory or, if a female appeared, might collect in threes °F 
fours near her. In spite of this the Bobolinks were never ob- 
