36 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



gan it. He simply couldn't suppress his boom- 

 ing to wait for daylight, and took up his tune 

 again where he dropped it the night before. It 

 would be a safe guess that the little company 

 to which he belonged did not move at all from 

 their stamping-ground during the night. I be- 

 lieve that these love-lorn fellows, at such times, 

 provide many a meal for their enemies, for by 

 nature they are not a night bird, and when an 

 infatuated male has swelled himself out to a sec- 

 ond diameter, tilted his head to an impossible 

 angle, bloated out his neck-pouches, and begun 

 to emit his long-drawn " Poooooommm," and 

 this, too, all in the dark, he surely cannot be 

 keeping his usual sharp lookout for his foes. 



At the first sign of light in the east, the little 

 horned lark, true to the traditions of his kin, 

 mounted high in air and lisped his best effort. It 

 was weak and creaky no doubt, but what would 

 the prairie do without him? A tree sparrow 

 chirped from the shrubbery ; a dozen crow voices 

 shouted from the hills ; the ducks redoubled their 

 clamor in the marsh; then a meadow lark sang 

 his dawn song of morning praise, and the prairie 

 world was awake. When the sun peeped over 



