fifty feet and more, and frequently in utterly inaccessible positions. The Balti- 

 more oriole is tolerant and amiably disposed toward its smaller n.eighbors, and 

 such are often allowed to nest in the same tree and occasionally within a few 

 feet of its own nest. 



Incubation lasts about fourteen days, and I think the female attends to this 

 duty almost exclusively. Both sexes are extremely devoted to each other, as 

 well as to their eggs and young, defending these bravely against all intruders. 

 From four to six eggs are laid to a set, most frequently four, though sets of five 

 are not uncommon, while sets of six are rather rare. One is deposited daily, 

 and only one brood is raised in a season. The young are able to leave the nest 

 when about two weeks old, and may be seen sitting on some of the branches 

 close by and clamoring for food. They are fed entirely on insects, etc., and are 

 faithfully cared for by the parents until able to provide for themselves. The 

 migration from the northern sections of their breeding range to their winter 

 homes in Central America begins usually in August, but occasionally some birds 

 linger until September. 



Birds of the Prairie 



By Edward B. Clark 



In the journey southwest from Chicago the traveler hour after hour passes 

 over a prairie country. Nowhere, as far as eye can reach, is there a hill to hedge 

 in these seemingly limitless fields. It ".eeds no native of these parts to explain 

 to the traveling stranger why it is that this great reaching plain is called the 

 Grand Prairie. There is a grandeur apart from mountains, canons, and rushing 

 rivers. It is the grandeur that attaches to the thought of \'ast extent, unbroken 

 and unrestricted. 



The Grand Prairie is the home of the birds that lo\c the level grass-grown, 

 stretclies, the great corn fields, and the low swales that hold their moisture even 

 in the burning heat of summer. The meadowlarks nest in countless numbers 

 all over the face of the prairies. The Western lark is a somewhat smaller bird 

 than its Eastern cousin, and it is far more friendly. Go where you will on the 

 prairies in the spring-time you will hear tlu- lark's clear, sweet whistling note. 

 .Sometimes the bird's music has a bell-like cpiality, but 1 have always been pleased 

 to think that this bit of sweetness is for the s]iecial benefit of Madame Meadow- 

 lark, hidden away on her nest in the prairie grass. An attempt was matle 

 recently in the Illinois legislature to put the meadowlark on the game list. The 

 farmer members said that the bird was too good a friend to be shot for pot- 

 pics, and the bill never went beyond the first reading. I sp, nt part of one wiiUer 

 in a wooded section of southeastern Texas. Nothing surjirised me more than 

 to find the meadowlarks there in abundance, and making their habitation in the 



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