Ball*s Hill 
§A 
Sparrow s* 
ne st s 
* 9 ^ 1 , >5 
There are two other Song Sparrows’ nests at Ball’s 
Hill, both on the ground under withered grass and both with 
5 eggs to-day. The bird belonging to one of these nests 
invariably flies directly from it to some bushes a few rods 
off, when started, her flight being in every way normal. 
The other two birds follow the nearly universal custom of their 
run? 
species and s©«rr for several yards before flying, skulking 
behind clods and tufts of grass. One of them half spreads 
her wings and simulates lameness but not with much realism 
or energy. Why should one of these birds fly? Perhaps she 
has learned that the skulking act does not always deceive. 
Certainly, as far as I am concerned, the other plan has 
proved the more successful, for it was not until I had 
flushed her several times that I began to suspect that there 
was a nest. 
* (My next visit to the nest near the cabin was on 
May 23rd at 3 P. M., when I found the fourth egg hatched. 
If this egg was the last one laid, as seems probable, it 
has hatched in just 12 days. The parent bird was absent 
when I looked at the nest on the 23rd but half an hour later 
she flew from the nest as I passed it. Hitherto she has 
always run a few yards before taking wing. She and her 
mate hs.ve become so accustomed to my presence that they show 
no anxiety and do not even chirp when I look at the nest. On 
May 29th the young in this nest were fully half-grown and 
covered with feathers on the back and wings yet the mother 
bird was “brooding " them. Their eyes opened either on this 
day or the 28th.) 
1M 
