THE OOLOGIST. 



229 



<);-(.-iil)it'<I at'ttT I had i)Ul in;, liauil into 

 it wliih' it svas Wi'in'? hiiill. 



174. TrixjUxljilcs aedon (Vicill.), 

 iioiist.' Wren (721). — A .siiiiimer resilient. 

 Sin'.-e the advent of tlie English spar- 

 row this speides has beeonie quite fare 

 in tlie eity. A few yeais a^'o we iiad 

 lW(t ()]• tliree i)aii"s 'oi'eedinir in oi;r yafd 

 iu boxes put up on tlieside of the liai-n 

 and on apple trees, hnt tlu^y were dfiv- 

 eii o!f by tile spaffows. Afterward I 

 p. it lip Ijoxes witii hoH's on]y large 

 enough to admit the wrens, and for 

 three years a pair have oeenpieil one of 

 th(nn. Afte:- the young had left the 

 n;'-;t ill ' j).!>t s.'as:)n, i saw the mail' 

 r.-m )\iiii>' tin' iii'st from liic l!o\ iiiece 

 by piece; he would, brin^ them out 'and 

 ili-op tliem to t!iegro:i:!d. After wateli- 

 in f him a long tim ' I thought I would 

 a-islst him in his labor, a.i.l pitting a 

 ladder up int ) the tree, I openeil the 

 i) )\ a'l Itlirew oat thf rci.st of t!ii' iii'st, 

 and ha r barely reaehed the ground | 

 when th ■ bird again etitered the box, | 

 and a uioinent after it came x)Utr, and] 

 mounting a linib within two feet of the I 

 box, ail streteliiug up its neek, poured I 

 forth his song of gratitude. Wonder- 

 ing what the efteet wotild !>;', 1 picked 

 up l!i:' nest, and mounting the laddei- 

 ])!aj;- 1 it on top of the box. Hardly 

 ha 1 1 rea 'lied the gi-ound before he 

 a.;ai;i alta -ked the nesi, and it wa-! not 

 a minute ijefore. he had thrown it to 

 the ground, bnd again mounting tlie 

 limb linislied iiis song, and depai'tinl, 

 and w ' saw notliing more of our little 

 friends. Bit w.' expeet them to return 

 nextfieason, or why were tiiey so par- 

 tieuiar to n'tnove their old ne-;t from 

 the box? 



Th.3 Shore Lark. 



With lis the Horned., or Sliore I. irk is 

 one of the niist interesting of l)irds, es- 

 peeiaily during migrations. This coun- 

 ty seems to be a sort of middle ground 

 over whi.-li the wave of Larks How 

 twice a yeai-— once in the sjjring when 



tiic i)irds go north to lireed, and once 

 again in the fall wlieii they go into win- 

 ter quarters farther south. 



Although most of these birds spend 

 winter and summer beyond tlie Ijotinds 

 of tills country, there ar.) some who al- 

 ways sta,y witii us. These are few, in- 

 deed during July and August, Init in 

 winter Ihey are comparatively common. 



The HorneilLark is a', liom- only on 

 the ground and seldom ]jerchi'S higher 

 than the fence. So well does its livery 

 of black and red-brown re.seinbh^ tl-.i- 

 clods among v, hich it dwells that it is 

 often dilliciil! to locate tlie bird, even 

 v/lieii witlrii a few feet of it. This Lark 

 has many favorite feedihg grounds, 

 which are ciianged with tlie .seasons. 

 Li autumn tiiey arc ofteiiest to be found 

 in iields of y ning whi^at, but in winter, 

 wiien liekls are snowed- under, they 

 must n^ort to the bare places, and so 

 are found on .southern .slopes, along the 

 roadsid.'s, etc., when the snow is nor 

 too deep or tiiere is a crust. They are 

 often found among the weed growths 

 ino'.dliiids. In spring they go back 

 to the wlieat fields again and at this 

 season spend much time in old pa.--turcs 

 also. 



When feeiling the horned lark runs 

 restlessly about much after the manner 

 of the Snow iiunting. Sometimes a 

 flock will alight on the edge of a tield 

 and, spreading out,, feed across it in an 

 orderly manner, taking wing for other 

 fields wdien the fence is reached. 



From this inrd we have the tirst bird- 

 song of the year. It is often heard ear- 

 ly in January, fully a month and a half 

 l")ef.n-e the Bluebird. The .song consists 

 of a few creaky note<, not especially 

 jileasing to the ear, Quit, (jnit, <jiiit,yon 

 sll/i/ rig (t)iil (ji:/ (iwny, it seems to say. 

 The tirst three or four sylables being 

 slowly and distinctly uttered aiul the 

 rest tmiH'what hurriedly run togeHjci- 

 However, like the faces and voices of 

 certain people, this ditty sweetens on 

 acquaintance and finally becomes a 



