362 LIFE-HISTORIES OF I3IRI>> 



is small in comparison with the good which it 

 accomplishes. When a cornfield is in close prox- 

 imity to a meadow, it is highly probable that a few 

 grains may be exhumed, or a few tender shoots 

 uprooted in early spring, but we are certain that 

 during the breeding-season the birds are so 

 attached to their favorite haunts, as not to be 

 induced to forsake them without urgent necessity. 

 In the autumn they may visit the cornfields and 

 pluck a few grains from the standing shocks, but 

 in view of the manifold advantages which we de- 



o 



rive from the myriads of insects which they 

 destroy, we should not grudge them a mere 

 pittance of corn. 



A typical nest is composed of stubble and 

 coarse grasses intermingled together, and lined 

 with soft meadow grasses which make a co/\ 

 interior. As before remarked, the outside ot 

 nests which are built in bushes, exhibit small 

 patches of mud which help to strengthen and bind 

 the ingredients more compactly together; in 

 ground nests, mud is an unnoticeable feature. 

 The nest measures five inches in diameter and 

 three in height, and has a cavity three inches wide 

 at the rim and one and a half deep. It requires 

 the joint labor of the sexes about five days to 

 complete a nest, working during the mornings and 

 evenings. The nest completed, on the ensuing 

 day the female begins to deposit her eggs at tit- 

 rate of one per day, until the full complement is 

 laid, which requires a period of five days. Incu- 



