249 



but slie ahvfiys avoided him and led liim further awa}' from 

 her nest. Finally she flew away to the pond leaving him 

 in bewilderment. I do not know what he would have done, 

 could he have caught her but I do know what would have 

 happened if he had found her four eggs. I have seen 

 many bird homes broken up by gray squirrels and more by 

 the smaller red variety. In order to prevent an_v furtlier ex- 

 ploration on his part, I left the tent and chased him from 

 the grove, an easy matter since I could shake him out of an_v 

 pine he climbed. 



Quite often, as she sat upon the nest, she would answer 

 the male birds as they called to one another or to their 

 mates, from the pond. It sounded alarmingly loud and 

 clear to hear her call, at such a short distance. Just once I 

 heard her give a low series of whistles, or rather warbles ; 

 she was probabh' so happy that she was singing to herself,, 

 unaware that she had an appreciative audience. 



Several times, the male bird came up to the edge of the 

 clearing and conversed with her by means of low "pipings", 

 but he never came to the nest, and I do not think he ever 

 sat upon the eggs; at least, the bird that I saw always ap- 

 peared to be the same one. One morning I found only a 

 few small pieces of egg shell. Her little ones were born 

 during the night and, somewhere in the fields, she was lead- 

 ing them about. The little ones are born covered with a soft 

 gray and white down, marked with a few black stripes. 

 They can run very fast and will hide themselves most ef- 

 fectively at a warning "pipe" from their mother. 



