410 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



months roam about from field to field; but no part of the general range, 

 at least to the west of the Sierras, is entirely deserted at any season. 



In spring and early summer meadowlarks are to be seen chiefly in 

 pairs; but throughout the fall and winter they forage in flocks numbering 

 anywhere from 10 to 75 individuals. The flock organization is loose ; in 

 fleeing from danger each bird takes its own course, remaining with or 

 leaving the flock at Avill. It usually happens that certain individual birds 

 fail to take wing when a flock is first flushed, and these belated birds 

 subsequently rise one after another as their field is invaded, to straggle 

 off independently. 



Spring is the period of maximum song for the meadowlark. Then, 

 on w^arm sunny days, their songs ring clear and sharp from every direction 

 in the newly grass-grown fields. Sometimes the birds sing while on the 

 ground; more often they mount a clod or boulder, a fence post or a tree, 

 and not infrequently they pour forth their melodious carolling while on 

 the wing, after the manner of the Skylark of the Old World and of the 

 Horned Lark of the New. At all times of the year their spirits and actions 

 seem to be greatly influenced by the weather. On warm sunny days their 

 voices are heard on all sides, and as the observer walks through the field 

 the birds rise and fly off, their short wings beating rapidly and their white 

 outer tail feathers showing conspicuously. But in cloudy or rainy weather 

 their demeanor is entirely different. Then their voices are rarely heard, 

 they skulk in the grass, loath to flush, preferring to slink quietly to one 

 side rather than to take wing. 



The nesting season is rather long, beginning in March or April and 

 extending well into the summer. Three to 5 eggs constitute a full set, 

 and often two broods are reared in a season. The nests are of grass, 

 loosely woven, often overtopped by a flimsy 'dome' of grass, and having 

 a 'runway' leading off through the adjacent vegetation. If approached 

 while incubating, the bird usually manages to flush while the observer is 

 still some distance away so that discovery of the nest is not easy. The 

 most successful method of locating nests is for two persons to drag a 

 long rope between them over a field where the birds are believed to be 

 nesting. This usually results in forcing an incubating bird to rise directly 

 from its nest, thereby disclosing the exact location of the latter. On 

 June 26, 1916, Mr. Dixon found a nest of the meadowlark containing 5 

 eggs, situated beneath a bunch of salt grass at 750Q feet altitude on Parker 

 Creek, Mono County. Four days later, at Mono Lake Post Office, he saw 

 adults carrying food to their young. 



As with so manj' other resident birds, the food of the meadowlark varies 

 w^ith the season. When the young are being fed, insects are abundant, and 

 both young and adults subsist largely on animal food. At other seasons 



