Caught in a Springtime Blizzard 81 



lark. The Meadowlark won. With its long bill it quickly put Cock Robin to 

 a disgraceful flight. 



The Meadowlarks seemed uneasy near the house. Though they had often- 

 times sung from a tree-top in the yard, or even from a fence-post, they had 

 never before, to my knowledge, alighted in the yard. Now they were forced 

 to do so in order to find food. They would fly down some distance from the 

 wind-swept path, and then come cautiously waddling across the snow — there 

 is no word but waddling which adequately describes their progress over the 

 soft, unfamiliar snow. Though alarmed by the slightest movement at a win- 

 dow, they were hungry and they liked the grain. Therefore they ventured 

 nearer and nearer the house, consuming large quantities of the grain in the 

 short, time they dared remain where danger seemed so imminent. They had 

 no difficulty whatsoever in making way with the large kernels of grain they 

 found: the Robins, on the other hand, ate grain much as we would eat hay! 

 It was something to keep them alive, but they could neither relish it nor 

 master the art of eating it daintily 



Sometime after the Meadowlarks had braved the perils of a close approach 

 to the house, the Killdeers made tentative excursions into the yard. For 

 long they circled about overhead, uttering their cry of kittdeer, killdcer, urged 

 by hunger to seek food on the bit of open ground, yet fearing to approach so 

 near a human habitation. Eventually, however, a pair of them, screaming, 

 settled on the wet ground, within a few feet of our windows. Immediately 

 they became absorbed in their search for food. They, too, listened for sounds 

 of life hidden in the mud, but not in the manner of the Robins. The Killdeers 

 did not cock their heads on one side and then on the other. They listened 

 with heads held straight in front of the body, but oftentimes they stopped 

 to listen, balanced on one foot or with one foot slightly in advance of the 

 other. No difficulty at all was encountered by the Killdeers in unearthing 

 small insect life, but when worms were heard and their position located, then 

 there was trouble. The Killdeer's slender legs, with their high joints, were 

 never built for bracing the body, as are the stout legs of the Robin. Conse- 

 quently, as soon as a bird had pulled a worm about half out of its hole, the 

 strength would leave its legs, it would be forced to 'give' to the worm a bit, 

 and the worm would quickly seize the opportunity to wiggle far down into the 

 soft earth. In the two days that the Killdeers were about the house almost 

 all the time, I saw but two worms successfully landed, though dozens of at- 

 tempts were made. 



A slight movement at a window always sent the Killdeers into the air with 

 the most plaintive scream I have ever heard. "Oh, dear, dear, clear, dear, 

 dear " they seemed to cry as they spread their wide sea-bird-like wings and 

 circled away from the suspected danger zone to which, however, they returned 

 in a very few minutes. 



The Bluebirds, who heretofore had not left the orchard, made several 



