THE OOLOGIST. 



25 



of its actions. Judging only from the 

 actions of the birds, the nest of a 

 given pair of Bobolinks is not so diffi- 

 cult for me to determine as one of 

 Killdeers, the latter being more de- 

 ceptive in misleading the observer, 

 and the former being more apt to be- 

 tray the neighborhood by their ordi- 

 nary movements. The foregoing con- 

 trast relates to actual observations of 

 the movements of the birds, and not 

 to divers epedients and strategems 

 for finding the nests. If we are go- 

 ing to be true oologists, aiming to 

 place the science of oology above the 

 plane of criticism it now occupies in 

 the mind's of certain individuals, let 

 us find our eggs by closely studying 

 the habits of the birds that the find- 

 ing of the nests follows as an inci- 

 dental rather than as the main issue. 

 I for one am not going to hunt for 

 eggs of the Bobolink, with a lantern. 



Does the female Bobolink always 

 alight on the ground or take wing at 

 some distance from the nest? As 

 has been shown, the female Bobolink 

 is not more cautious in such actions 

 than some other birds. The writer 

 is not aware that the female ever 

 alights directly at the nest, but he 

 has frequently observed one alight 

 very near the nest, and from such 

 movements has been able to deter- 

 mine very closely the immediate 

 neighborhood of the site. Once I saw 

 a female Bobolink go to a certain spot 

 in a meadow, though meanwhile I had 

 watched her movements intermittent- 

 ly for several days and up- 

 on following her I flushed her from 

 the grass within three feet of where 

 I stood, exposing her cozy nest with 

 five eggs. It is not uncommon to 

 startle a sitting Bobolink within six 

 feet of her nest, even in the early 

 days of the period of incubation. When 

 the bird is thus flushed, she flutters 

 away over the grass with quivering 

 wings and expanded tail, manifest- 



ing the usual signs of bird distress 

 at the sudden disturbance of the 

 household. 



If our field operations is a large un- 

 broken meadow, lacking tree or shrub 

 or bush or fence post, an area to 

 which we have given no previous ob- 

 servation to the movements of the 

 merry tenants, it would be a difficult 

 matter to walk into it and find nests 

 of the Bobolink off-hand. So would 

 it be difficult to find nests of any- 

 thing in it, off-hand, except as one 

 chanced to flush a Meadow Lark or 

 whatnot. It is such work that removes 

 Oology from the pale of the sciences. 

 Suppose it is a field, however, where 

 Bobolink music flows in all its volubil- 

 ity, where we loaf frequently to watch 

 the movements of the merry-hearted 

 songsters as they pass the season of 

 nuptial bliss, where an occasional tree 

 or bush or salient weed-stem affords 

 a favorite elevation for the jingling 

 performances of the males. Under 

 such circumstances we ought to find 

 several nests hidden in the grassy co- 

 verts. 



What signs shall guide us in our 

 determination of nesting sites? First, 

 I should say, the apparent favored el- 

 evation from which the male utters 

 his merry jingles. Now, we under- 

 stand that the male will sing all over 

 the neighborhood, from all sites avail- 

 able, in the air as well as on the 

 ground; but there will be one partic- 

 ular site from which he sings more 

 frequently than elsewhere. The nest 

 will be somewhere within a small ra- 

 dius of that favored station. 



Whenever the female leaves the 

 nest and appears a-wing, it is in order 

 for the male to pursue her with his 

 music, for his gallantry is proverbial; 

 when she returns to the nest, he is 

 likely to continue his amorous pursuit. 

 On such occasions, as she drops into 

 the grass to escape his fervent plead- 

 ings, he will more frequently than oth- 



