A JOLLY FIELD BIRD. 137 



had really no x^rotection, being only slightly 

 arched up in the rear. Then I have found 

 others that were hidden cozily in the clover, 

 most of the nest roofed over by a fabric of 

 dry grass, and the rest of the roof completed 

 by weaving together the green cJover stems and 

 leaves above it. Several of these homesteads 

 had little pathways running up to them under 

 the overarching clover — a little grassy man- 

 sion, one might say, with its driveway or prom- 

 enade leading to the door. Oddly enough, one 

 summer I found one of these nests which was 

 very deftly concealed and roofed over, while 

 not more than ten feet away was another which 

 was left wholly exposed, no attempt at conceal- 

 ment being made. 



But where do you suppose our pretty larks 

 roost? On the ground amid the soft grass. 

 When I go prowling around at night in the 

 fields, they are frightened from their grassy 

 c(^uches, and go scudding away, uttering their 

 familiar sputtering call. But I verified this 

 discovery in another way. I once had two 

 young pet larks in a large cage, and, although 

 there were plenty of perches, they almost al- 

 ways preferred to sleep on the floor of the cage 

 in the grassy bed I spread for them. Even 

 when I made them no grass couch, they would 

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