58 THE SMALLER BRIUSIf BIRDS. 



is perhaps safer than anywhere from human depredators, for until the 

 corn is cut Farmer Giles looks pretty shirp after trespassers on that 

 ground. Very frequently we have seen one of these birds go down 

 straight as a stone, and felt sure that we could put our hand upon 

 him, and the sitting mate, for whom ha had been pouring out that 

 ecstatic song aloft; but on going to the spot, no Lark was to be 

 seen, nor nest either. Where could it be? perhaps several yards off, 

 or close at hand on the other side of a ridge, or at the bottom of a 

 gorse bush, amid a tangled mesh of grass, or a fine growth of sting- 

 ing nettles or prickly thistles. It is often a wonder how these nests 

 escape being trodden on by grazing cows, and sheep, and horses, and 

 people who wander from the paths, as we all love to do, among the 

 sweet fresh grass, bright with buttercups and daisies, "Nature's gold 

 and silver." Doubtless this sometimes does occur, but not often, we 

 believe. Now an'd then a deserted nest will be found with the eggs 

 addled; in this case the hen bird has been destroyed, or offended by 

 intrusion upon her privacy, the first time she was disturbed she crept 

 away so slily and carefully, that not a blade of the tall grass amid 

 which she hid herself was seen to move; the second time there was 

 a little flutter of ^indignation, and her course could plainly be traced 

 as she went to seek her mate who was not far off; but the third time, 

 sho spread her wings and went up at once with a complaining cry 

 that seemed to say "I can stand this no longer, take the eggs if 

 you want them, nest and all, for I shan't use it any more;" and she 

 never came back again, but sought out a spot more free from in- 

 trusion, but it was a bad selection for her, that field of grass laid 

 down for hay, for being late in the season, the cutting took place 

 before her young ones were ready, and, not liking to leave them in 

 danger, she sat still to cover them, and had her head taken off by 

 the scythe. This has several times happened both in hay and corn 

 fields; and an instance is recorded of a hen bird moving her eggs 

 one by one to a safer spot, when she saw the mowers working their 

 way towards her nesting-place. Jesse, as a result of his own obser- 

 vation, reports this to be a fact, and says, "that the peculiarly long 

 hind-claw of the Lark enables the bird to grasp and convey its eggs 

 from place to place without much difficulty." 



Here we have the feeling of maternal affection in a bird very strongly 

 displayed, and also a reasoning faculty. Although there are many 

 instances of the female Sky Lark deserting her nest when disturbed, 

 yet she has never been known to do this when the young were 

 hatched and incapable of feeding themselves; she would give her life 

 for them, but would not voluntarily desert them. We ought not to 



