XV 
GAME-BIRDS? 
The plea of the Meadowlark, Mourning-dove, Sand- 
piper, Plovers, and Bobolink, the Masquerader 
‘‘ SPARE US, PLEASE! WE ARE TOO SMALL FOR FOOD.” 
“You, children, who live with green fields about you, all 
know the Meadowlark by sight and sound, even if you 
never have had the curiosity to learn its name. It is the 
bird seen walking in old fields and lowlands. In size 
it is a little larger than a Robin, with a rather flat head 
and long, stout bill, its back speckled and streaked with 
brown and black, and a beautiful yellow throat and 
breast crossed by a crescent of black. When the bird is 
on the ground, if you came behind it, at a distance, you 
might think it a Flicker, but the moment it takes to the 
air with a whirring flight, the white feathers at the outside 
of the tail show plainly, and name it Meadowlark, just as 
the white rump names the Flicker. 
“Then, you know its voice, that sometimes drops from 
a tree, sometimes rises from the grass, that Mr. Burroughs 
says calls, ‘Spring o’ the year — Spring o’ theyear.’ The 
notes are clear as a flute, and, beautiful as our Meadow- 
lark’s song is, that of his brother, the Prairie Lark, is still 
more melodious, and I shall never forget the first spring 
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