AMERICAN SKYLARKS 190 



quality, and as we drove homeward my com- 

 panion and I agreed that we would take up 

 our quarters for a day or two at the nearest 

 house, and study it more at our leisure. Pos- 

 sibly we should happen upon a nest. 



In the forenoon of May 25, therefore, we 

 found ourselves comfortably settled in the 

 very midst of a lark colony. The birds, of 

 which there were at least five (besides two 

 pairs found half a mile farther up the val- 

 ley), were to be seen or heard at almost any 

 minute ; now in the road before the house, 

 now in the ploughed land close by it, now 

 in one of the cattle pastures, and now on 

 the roofs of the buildings. One fellow spent 

 a great part of his time upon the ridgepole 

 of the barn (a pretty high structure), com- 

 monly standing not on the very angle or 

 ridge, but an inch or two below it, so that 

 very often only his head and shoulders would 

 be visible. Once I saw one dusting himself 

 in the rut of the road. He went about the 

 work with great thoroughness and unmis- 

 takable enjoyment, cocking his head and 

 rubbing first one cheek and then the other 

 into the sand. " Cleanliness is next to god- 

 liness," I thought I heard him saying. 



