Bird - Lore 



usual eggs of the Vesper Sparrow, and I saw that the nest was partially arched 

 over. This morning the eggs were hatching and the female was going on and 

 off the nest frequently, bringing food to the newly hatched young and carrying 

 away the broken shells. Once the male came and fed her as she sat brooding. 

 I had an excellent view of them through the peep-hole, and it soon dawned 

 upon me that I was deahng with an unfamiliar species. The median stripe 



through the crown, the plain 

 breast, a bit of yellow at the 

 bend of the wing, and the 

 I' insect-hke song told me that 

 my first Grasshopper Sparrows 

 were before me. I promptly 

 turned my camera upon their nest 

 and secured a series of pictures. 

 I was still at it when, about 

 12.30 p. M., I saw the Quail 

 just behind her nest. A few 

 minutes later she came around 

 the base of the tall weed at its 

 door and entered. She seemed 

 suspicious of the changed sur- 

 roundings and at a slight noise 

 from the tent she promptly 

 took leave. A half-hour later 

 she came back but was still 

 restless and repeated her pre- 

 vious performance. Later in the 

 afternoon she remained on the 

 nest in spite of the various noises 

 that I made intentionally and 

 unintentionally. When I came 

 out of the tent late in the after- 

 noon, I found that another egg 

 had been deposited. I had ob- 

 tained several pictures but the 

 darkroom proved them to be 

 less perfect than I had hoped. 

 Two days later, I returned with the hope of securing better pictures. The 

 nest now contained fourteen eggs. I had not yet convinced myself that this 

 bird normally laid in the late afternoon, so I again entered the tent in the 

 early morning, the most favorable time for picture-making, for the tent had 

 been placed to the east of the nest. During the previous night the Sparrows 

 had met with an accident too common to ground-nesting species. In order 



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GRASSHOPPER SPARROW AT NEST 



