60 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 211 



of the plumage blend so perfectly with the surroundings that if a 

 nesting bird could restrain its fear, a person might pass within inches 

 of a nest and never be aware of its presence. Most nests that I have 

 found were those I nearly trampled under my feet. Most nests are 

 built in a small depression of the ground, the depth of which may be 

 augmented by some excavation by the bird until it is about 1 to 2% 

 inches deep. Skutch writes of a nest he found in an alfalfa field near 

 Ithaca, N. Y., on May 26, 1931; it was a sparse structure of grasses 

 only half covered over and set in a depression of the ground so that the 

 upper side of the five eggs were about level with the surface of the field. 



The nest varies in size and bulk according to the situation in which 

 it is found. Of five nests measured, the average total height was 7 

 inches, the outside diameter 6% inches and the inside measurements of 

 the nesting cavity approximately 4 by 5 inches. The average opening 

 is 3% inches wide and 4 inches high. 



A. C. Bent found an unusual nest containing three eggs in an 

 unusual site at Sea Isle City, N. J., on June 23, 1928. Located in 

 short grass on Black Rail Marsh, it was made of dried coarse grasses, 

 completely arched over with a thick, dense canopy of coarse dry 

 grasses and weeds, and was much like the nest of the black rail in 

 appearance. He found another nest containing four eggs among the 

 beach grass at Chatham, Mass., on May 28, 1904, sunk into the sand 

 just back of the crest of the beach. 



F. W. Rapp reports a meadowlark's nest, containing four eggs, 

 which was located within 9 feet of the track of the Grand Trunk 

 Western Railroad. Trains running at a high rate of speed, making 

 much noise and jarring the ground, apparently did not disturb the 

 birds. The nest, in short grass, was completely covered over with 

 dried grasses and the entrance was away from the tracks. 



Robert L. Denig (1913) reports unusual conditions under which 

 a meadowlark nested at Wakefield, Mass., where the U. S. Marine 

 Corps conducted rifle practice during the summer of 1909. Mounds 

 of earth about 3 feet high were built to elevate the firing points at 

 100-yard intervals. The meadowlark built its nest on the far side 

 of the 400-yard mound directly in line with the target, so that the 

 muzzle of the rifle of the man lying on the mound was directly over 

 the nest and not more than 2 feet above it. At first when the firing 

 skirmish line was about 400 yards distant, the birds would fly away; 

 but as the practice continued they became more and more accustomed 

 to the noise; they would allow the men to approach nearer and nearer 

 before leaving the nest and would return at once when the firing ceased 

 at that point. As the time came for the eggs to hatch, one of the 

 birds would remain on the nest throughout the firing, even when the 

 gun was being discharged directly over its head, not more than 2 feet 



