1916 J MousLEY, Breeding of the Prairie Horned Lark. 285 



late I decided to leave the place and return again early the next 

 morning. As I did so the bird again got up from the road side and 

 flew into the tree, and as there was a small copse about 150 yards 

 away, I secreted myself in it and awaited developments. It was 

 not long before the bird again flew down on to the large boulder, 

 (as on the previous evening) and disappeared in the grass, but 

 owing to the ground taking a sudden dip, I found it would be im- 

 possible to follow the bird to the exact site of the nest from where I 

 was concealed, and that it would be necessary for me to either get 

 on to the other side of the road (where there was unfortunately no 

 cover) or hide at the foot of the ash tree, around which there was 

 some thick underbrush. However, as I wanted to further investi- 

 gate the habits of this pair of birds at the nest, I remained where I 

 was for about an hour, during which time I watched both parents 

 come and go with food many times. Their method of proceedure 

 was exactly the same on every occasion, and never once did they 

 approach the nest direct, always first alighting in the top of the 

 ash tree, and from there flying down on to the large boulder, and 

 then walking in the grass to the nest, which I found out later on 

 was only some few yards away. Having now thoroughly satisfied 

 myself that under certain conditions Prairie Horned Larks will 

 perch in trees (although this pair of birds may be the exception 

 which proves the rule), I decided to take up my position at the 

 foot of the ash tree and discover the nest. I therefore waited my 

 opportunity until both birds were away, and then concealed myself 

 as well as I could in the scrub surrounding the base of the tree. 

 Here I was able to get a full view of the hollow into which the birds 

 had always disappeared, and I had not long to wait before the male 

 alighted in the tree top, then flew down to the boulder as before, 

 from which it walked direct to the nest, and I was able to mark the 

 exact spot. No wonder on the previous evening I had failed to 

 locate the nest, for of all the most perfect cases of a nest and its 

 contents conforming to their natural surroundings this was the best 

 I think I have ever come across, for on going to it again later on in 

 the day it took me some few minutes to pick it out, although I 

 knew almost the exact spot where to look. I visited the nest again 

 on May 4, to find the young larks had left, but I discovered one in 

 the grass not far off, and soon had the male (by the way the male 



