THE PACIFIC HORNED 



lARK. 



< )iKt' tlic ailciition of the oijlogisl was directed to tliis structure, it rose 

 t'roin tlic plain like a pyrainiil of Clieops before his straiiic<l anxieties. It was 

 torture to liave to leave it tor liaif an hour. How could tiiat scIiooI-Ihiv pass 

 at twenty yards and not see it! Then, when 1 returned to reconnoiter. the 

 dear cattle were just being turned loose for the morning, and they. for.s<K>th, 

 nuist straggle past it. At the end of another hour, unable longer to endure 

 the suspense. I returned to perform the last offices. The banil of sheep was 

 oiU then, and they were drifting so i)erili>usly close, that I ran the last hundred 

 yards to head them olT. and none loo simju. Vet that precious monument of 

 sim])Iicity held three eggs, unharmed until the advent of the man. who 

 wrought the ruin surely, in the name of — Science!?). Consistency, thou 

 art a jewel found in no egg-collector's cabinet! 



The nest of the Pacific Horned Lark is nut often concealeil. I)ut usu.dly 

 it does not more than fill the hollow of some cavity, natural or artificial. — a 

 wheel-rut. a footprint of horse or cow. a cavity left by an ui»turned stone, or. 



as in one instance, the liottom <if an unused 

 golf -hole. The only attempt at conceal- 

 ment noted was where the nest had been 

 placed under the foUl of a large 

 >irip of tar pa|)er, most of which 

 had become tightly plastered 

 to the groimd. 



In spite of the compara- 

 tively mild weather i)revail- 

 iiig in .\pril, eggs are not 

 often laid before the second 

 week in May. and a second 

 -et is tlei)osited al)Out the 

 -ocond week in June. The 

 number of eggs in a set 

 \aries froiu two to four, 

 three being most commonly 

 found. In color the gniuud 

 is gra\ish white, while dots 

 of greenish gray or reddish 

 grav are now gathered in a heavy wreath aljout the larger end, and now regu- 

 larly distribute<l over the entire surface — sometimes so heavily as to obscure 

 the ground. The eggs arc often very jierceplibly glossed and there is fre- 

 (|uently a haunting greenish or yellowish tinge which diffuses itself over the 

 whole — an atmosphere, as the artist would say. \'ariation in size runs from 

 ovate to elongate oval, and measurements range from .c)^ x .60 to .8t x .58. 

 I lorued Larks owe their preservati<in chiefly to the wariness of the female. 



NF.ST .\NI) F.Gt.S Ol- I'ACIIIC IIOKNKI) I..\KK. 



