272 CITIZEN BIRD 



meant to do mischief as soon as they could get a chance. 

 By the middle of May, when the grass has grown high 

 enough to protect him, this gentle bird thinks he has 

 earned a right to a home in one of the meadows he has 

 freed from their insect enemies, and sets about to make 

 it. A little colony may settle in this same field, or a 

 single pair have a corner all to themselves. 



'^ A loose grass nest is arranged in a suitable spot, 

 usually wliere the grass is long enough to be drawn 

 together over the nest like a sort of tent. Here the 

 mother tends the eggs and nestlings, the father ahvays 

 keeping near to help her, and continually singing at his 

 daily toil of providing for his family as charmingly as 

 if he were still a gay bachelor ; for ^Nleadowlarks are 

 very affectionate both toward each other and their 

 young. It is really distressing to hear the sadness of 

 the song of one who has lost his mate. He seems to be 

 crying, ' Where are you, dear ? ' and beseeching her to 

 come. 



" Though we frequently hear their song in the marsh 

 meadows in autumn, they are shyer then, and keep in 

 flocks. At that season they grow fat, and gunners con- 

 tinually worry them ; but I do not think that sports- 

 men often shoot these song birds. They are chiefly the 

 victims of thoughtless boys or greedy pot-hunters. The 

 true sportsman is one of the first to preserve all song 

 birds, and give even game birds a fair chance for life ; 

 he is tluis very different from tlie cruel man who, simply 

 because lie owns a gun, shoots everything, from a Robin 

 to a Quail, and even in the nesting season." 



" Please, what is a pot-hunter ? " asked Dodo. 



" A pot-hunter is one who kills birds and other game 



