46 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



tliroiigli a clover and timothy field, wlien a 

 meadow lark suddenly bounded up before me. 

 There, through the deep grass, wound a path 

 several feet long, which led to a nest daintily 

 hidden and canopied, containing five or six lark 

 babies. The path had been worn by the old 

 birds going to and from the nest, for they did 

 not seem to alight directly by the side of it, but 

 a little distance away, and then crept through 

 the grass to the site. Indeed, I have found 

 more than one meadow lark's nest by first 

 noticing the little roadway trodden by the 

 old birds in the grass. In one case tliis path 

 ran under the grass for fully a foot and a 

 half, looking like a little old-fashioned covered 

 bridge. 



To return to the particular nest of which I 

 started out to speak, the youngsters must have 

 very recently chipped their shells ; for they 

 possessed nothing in the way of clothing but a 

 little fuzz. When I took one from the nest and 

 held it in my hand it was still too young to hold 

 up its head more than a moment at a time. 

 Just one week later to the day — almost the 

 hour — I again called on the happy family in 

 the grass ; and what do you think ? The babies 

 had grown so rapidly that every one of them 

 leaped with wild chirping from the nest, and 



