168 EVERYDAY ADVENTURES 
of their nests. I decided, however, that my only 
chance was to watch these females, knowing that an 
incubating bird will not leave her eggs for any 
great length of time. Accordingly, when the next 
streaked brown bird flew up far ahead of me, I settled 
down in the long grass with a field-glass and carefully 
watched her flight. She crossed the meadow and 
alighted some three hundred yards away. In about 
fifteen minutes she came back and settled in the grass 
on a slope some distance from where she had flown 
out. Almost immediately she flew out again, probably 
warned by the male on guard. Once more she crossed 
the meadow, and this time stayed away so long that 
I nearly fell asleep in the drowsy, scented grass. 
In the meantime, one by one, the songs of the males, 
like the tinkling, gurgling notes of a trout-brook, 
ceased, and my part of the meadow seemed deserted. 
Finally through my half-shut eyes I saw Mrs. 
Bobolink come flying low over the tops of the 
waving grass. As I lay perfectly still, she made a 
half-circle around the slope and suddenly disappeared 
in the ripple of a green wave that rose to meet the 
wind. I marked the place by a tall weed stalk, and 
waited a minute to see whether this was another 
feint. As she did not appear, I ran up as rapidly 
and silently as possible before the father bird could 
spy me from the other side of the pasture and cry 
the alarm. Perhaps he had become careless while 
rollicking with his friends. At any rate, when I 
reached the place there was no sign of any bobolink 
near me. 
