THE MEADOW LARK. 73 



uttering the softest of his notes, she moves off in such a manner that her 

 ardent admirer often seems doubtful whether she means to repel or 

 encourage him. At length, however, he is permitted to go nearer, to 

 express by his song and courteous demeanour the strength and constancy of 

 his passion. She accepts him as her lord, and in a few days both are seen 

 busily searching for an appropriate spot in which to rear their young. 



At the foot of some tuft of tall strong grass you find the nest. A cavity 

 is scooped out of the ground, and in it is placed a quantity of grass, fibrous 

 roots, and other materials, circularly disposed so as to resemble an oven, 

 around which leaves and the blades of the surrounding grasses are matted 

 together so as to cover and conceal it. The entrance admits only one at a 

 time, but both birds incubate. The eggs are four or five, pure white, 

 sprinkled and blotched with reddish-brown, mostly towards the larger end. 

 The young are out towards the end of June, and follow their parents for 

 some weeks afterwards. These birds are unremitting in their attention 

 towards each other, and in the care of their offspring, and while the female 

 sits, the male not only supplies her with food, but constantly comforts her 

 by his song and the watchfulness which he displays. Should one approach 

 the nest, he immediately rises on wing, passes and repasses in circles over 

 and around the spot in which the nest is, and thus frequently leads to the 

 hidden treasure. 



Excepting Hawks and Snakes, the Meadow Lark has few enemies at this 

 season. The prudent and enlightened farmer, mindful of the benefit his 

 meadows have received from the destruction of thousands of larvae, which 

 might have greatly injured his grass, disturbs it not, and should he find its 

 nest while cutting his hay, he leaves the tuft in which it is placed. Even 

 young children seldom destroy this bird or its brood. 



It must not, however, be supposed that the Meadow Lark is entirely 

 harmless. In the Carolinas, many well instructed planters agree in denounc- 

 ing it as a depredator, alleging that it scratches up oat seeds when sown early 

 in spring, and is fond of plucking up the young corn, the wheat, the rye, or 

 the rice. 



In confinement, this bird has another fault. Dr. Samuel Wilson of 

 Charleston told me that one of the Meadow Larks which he had purchased 

 in the market, with a number of other birds, had been found feeding on the 

 body of a Bay-winged Bunting, which it had either killed, or found dead in 

 the aviary. He said he had watched the bird more than twenty minutes, 

 and plainly saw that it plunged its bill into the flesh of the Finch to its eyes, 

 and appeared to open and close it alternately, as if sucking the juices of the 

 flesh. Two days afterwards, the same Meadow Lark actuall}* killed two 

 other Finches that had their wings clipped, and ate them. 



Vol. IV. 10 



