PHASES OF BIRD LIFE. L723 
midst of the woods. I fear she was not a well-trained 
bird ; but I watched her closely, and must concede 
that, whether her conduct was in “‘ good form” or 
not, she reared her brood in the most approved 
manner. I could come within two feet of her, and 
almost touch her with my cane, before she would fly 
from the nest. How her little round eyes stared at 
me without so much asa blink! But she was greatly 
agitated, for her bosom palpitated with the violent 
throbbing of her heart. 
“T’ve found a turtle-dove’s nest on the ground,” 
said my friend, the young farmer across the fields, 
one spring day. (No matter about the year of grace, 
for every year is a year of grace in bird study.) My 
head was shaken skeptically, and I smiled in a 
patronizing way, for a turtle-dove’s nest on the 
ground was an unknown quantity in all my study of 
birds; but my friend declared, “ Honest Injun!” 
and I left him to his obstinate opinions. But, hold! 
who, after all, proved to be the donkey? A few 
days later I myself stumbled upon a turtle-dove’s 
nest in a clover-field, flat on the ground. Bird 
students, be careful how you dispute the word of 
these sharp-eyed tillers of the soil! 
But for birds that invariably choose old mother 
earth for the foundation of their houses, commend 
me to the American meadow-larks. In this respect 
they are certainly groundlings, though not in a bad 
sense. All their nests are constructed on the same 
general plan, it is true; but the details are quite 
diverse, proving that architectural designs in the lark 
