THE PACIFIC HORNED LARK. 



2ig 



Returning on tlie 27tli, we found that tlie hole in 



come a 

 stead. 



grown callou 



dehrium of unfettered bHss do off about six miles in twice as many minutes, 

 with a Horned Lark, flying low, as the invariable object of his chase. When 

 to such conditions as these was added the scantiness of cover, one marveled 

 indeed that the daffy Horned Lark still persisted upon his ancient heritage. 



Yet on the nth of April (the earliest record b}- far), in the barest of it, 

 we marked a deep rounded cavity which Mr. Bowles declared belonged t(.) the 

 Streaked Horned Lark. Returning on the .27 

 the ground had be- 

 bump in- 

 The bird, 

 amid 

 the impending evils, 

 or else frankl}- in- 

 tending to warn off 

 trespassers, had filled 

 the cavity full to 

 overflowing, and had 

 erected upon its site 

 a monumental pile 

 visible at a hundred 

 yards. So zealous 

 had the bird's efforts 

 been that the crest 

 of the nest stuck up 

 two and a half inches 

 above the close- 

 cropped landscape. 

 and the bottom of 

 the nest was abo\'e 

 the ground. This 

 creation was quite 

 ten inches across, 

 while it included 

 upon its skirts bits 



of sod, cow-chips and pebbles, — a motley array, possibly designed to distract 

 attention from the dim-colored eggs which the nest contained. The most 

 lavish display of this sort of bruinagem marked a runway of approach, off'set 

 bv a corresponding depression upon the other side. The nest was composed 

 chiefly of dried grasses and weed-stalks with soft dead lea\-es, and was lined, 

 not \'ery carefullv. with grass, driefl leaves, and a single white chicken-feather.^ 



Talccn Lit South Tticonia. Photo by Dawson and Bonlcs. 



THE NEST ON THE GOLF LINKS. 



A near view of this remarkable nest was forbidden by the breaking of a negative. 



