56 BIRD PARADISE 



themselves. Their method of flight is breezy, 

 like their song, and I notice that in graduating 

 their families from the home nest they push mat- 

 ters in real lark fashion. Very little skill is 

 shown in arranging the summer cottage. Some 

 small depression in the surface of the meadow is 

 selected and given a lining of dried grass. Both 

 parent birds join in the nest building and both, 

 I think, share in the process of incubation. 

 When once the young fellows appear, the old 

 birds show a kind of nervous activity quite out of 

 keeping with their ordinary life. Almost every 

 moment food is brought to the hungry brood and 

 no amount, however large, seems to appease in 

 the slightest degree the insatiable appetites. 

 Among all our birds the young larks seem to 

 take up the journey of life with a kind of " go-as- 

 you-please " character that is most interesting. 

 They have a practice of using the hillside as a 

 sort of coasting place, making merry in the exer- 

 cise like a party of children. Great-hearted, 

 genial fellows they are, lovable in every sense of 

 the word. 



When preparing these notes I glanced from my 

 study window and there in the lawn trees were a 



