Lancaster, Mass.
1902.
June 10
(No 8)
it was but poorly concealed. Certainly no one with
average powers of observation could have parted or even
slightly disarranged the vegetation over it without seeing it.
As we stood close about it looking down at it from
our full heights (ie without stooping) we all agreed that
both nest and eggs might have been readily mistaken
for those of a Field sparrow. The nest itself also bore
a resemblance to that of a Maryland Yellow-throat especially
in respect to the way in which it was built up from 
the ground among the stems of the grasses.
Nest of Henslow's Sparrow
  Perhaps the most interesting part of our experience
with this nest was that relating to the behavior of the
bird. Without going into needless details it may be sufficient
to state that putting together what we saw on this and
previous occasions (she must have laid all her eggs and begun
incubating them before the date (June 3) of our last visit) 
we have become convinced that it has been her
regular practise to leave the nest as soon as she saw
(or heard) us enter the meadow and, running like a
mouse through the grass to a distance of at least twenty-five
or thirty feet, and invariably, save on the last occasion, to
one particular spot, to rise under foot and in such a manner
as to lead us to suppose that she had flown directly
from her eggs. Her return to the nest was not less crafty
for, as I have already stated, it must have been accomplished
by running back to it under shelter of the grass from the
spot where she had alighted and where she evidently wished
us to think the nest was concealed. When we flushed her
the last time she was too closely pressed to reach this spot but
with infinite cunning she did the next best thing ie ran directly
towards us rising between us & the nest & about 8 feet from the latter.
Tricks practised by Henslow's Sparrow to prevent discovery of nest.
19