WAYS OF NATURE 



poured out his voluble and copious strain. " What a 

 contrast," I thought, "between the voice of the 

 spluttering, tongue-tied lark, and the free, liquid, 

 and varied song of the bobolink!" 



I have heard of a curious fact in the life-histories 

 of these larks in the West. A Michigan woman once 

 wrote me that her brother, who was an engineer on 

 an express train that made daily trips between two 

 Western cities, reported that many birds were struck 

 by the engine every day, and killed — often as many 

 as thirty on a trip of sixty miles. Birds of many 

 kinds were killed, but the most common was a bird 

 that went in flocks, the description of which an- 

 swered to the horned lark. Since then I have read 

 in a Minnesota newspaper that many horned larks 

 are killed by railroad locomotives in that State. It 

 was thought that the birds sat behind the rails to get 

 out of the wind, and on starting up in front of the 

 advancing train, were struck down by the engine. 

 The Michigan engineer referred to thought that the 

 birds gathered upon the track to earth their wings, 

 or else to pick up the grain that leaks out of the 

 wheat-trains, and sows the track from Dakota to 

 the seaboard. Probably the wind which they might 

 have to face in getting up was the prime cause of 

 their being struck. One does not think of the loco- 

 motive as a bird-destroyer, though it is well known 

 that many of the smaller mammals often fall be- 

 neath it. 



38 



