PHASES OP BIRD LIPB. 173 



midst of the woods. I fear she was not a well tramed 

 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 as a blink ! But she was greatly 

 agitated, for her bosom palpitated with the violent 

 throbbing of her heart. 



" I '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, fiat 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 



