174 IN BIRD LAND. 
guild of builders are almost as numerous as the 
builders themselves. My young farmer friend found 
a nest early in the spring, with not a blade of grass 
near it for protection, while the structure itself was 
arched over only a very little in the rear. Another 
nest was situated in a pasture, and was almost as 
devoid of roofing as was the first nest. But rather 
late in the spring a nest was found, hidden most 
deftly in the clover and plantain leaves, which were 
woven together in the most intricate manner so as 
to form a canopy over the cosey cot. At one side 
there was a tunnel, some two feet long, forming the 
only entrance to the apartment. The nest proper 
was arched over from the rear for fully one half its 
width. Not ten feet away was another lark’s nest 
that was almost wholly exposed to the light and air. 
In the lark world there is evidently a good deal of 
room for originality. ‘There seem to be many larks 
of many minds. 
My quest for cuckoos’ nests during the summer 
of 1892 was well rewarded, but I shall stop to 
describe only one of these finds. The young birds 
having left, I lifted the nest from the swaying branch 
on which it hung, and examined it. The founda- 
tion was composed of twigs and sticks intertwined 
and plaited together with some degree of skill, but 
it was the lining that stirred my interest. First, it 
consisted of a number of dead forest leaves from 
which the cellular texture had been completely 
stripped, leaving only the petiole, midrib, and veins ; 
underneath this was a more compact carpet of the 
