I 74 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 



