82 
NATURE NOTES. 
Lost in the blue sky above, a lark is singing a joyous song 
to its mate somewhere beneath him, and as one watches him 
slowly descending until he disappears in the grass not many 
yards away, the discovery of his nest would seem an easy task. 
That it will not be hidden in a hole, or under bush or stumps I 
know, and as the grass is not a foot high, my quest must soon be 
successful. I search diligently, covering, as I think, every inch 
of the ground within a circle of twenty yards from where I saw 
him alight. I bend back every overhanging tuft, and still do not 
find the nest. Again I go over the ground, until suddenly, at my 
very feet, I see, lying on a bed of died grass, five mottled eggs, 
harmonising so well with their surroundings that I am surprised 
no longer at their escaping my notice. 
As I retrace my steps to the path that runs by the side of 
the wood, a low sweet trill catches my ear, and anxious to see 
and identify the little songster, I stand quite still in the shadow 
of an old elm. In a moment or two the song breaks out again, 
just to the left, and taking care to move neither hand nor foot, I 
slowly turn my head in that direction. But slight as the move- 
ment was, it was sufficient to startle the bird, and I onl}^ catch a 
glimpse of a flash of yellowish green darting off between the 
trees. The colour confirms what the song had suggested, and I 
know I must be close to the nest of a wood warbler. Like that 
of the skylark, this nest will be on the ground, and I expect even 
more difficult to find ; but the bird itself shall be the guide. I 
walk a little further into the wood, and placing myself in as com- 
fortable position as possible under the circumstances, behind the 
screen afforded by a low bush, I wait with patience the return of 
the little songster. But the personal discomfort is not slight ; a 
persistent desire to sneeze must be overcome, and the conviction 
that the whole crawling population of the wood have located 
themselves in my immediate neighbourhood grows stronger 
each moment ; but to move now would be fatal to success. 
How much longer will he be ? Ah ! here he comes at last, 
flitting from tree to tree with an easy graceful flight : now 
dropping to the brambles beneath, then up again, to rest on a 
low branch, whence he darts out to catch some passing insect, 
singing the while snatches of his low sweet song. He stops 
now on the oak tree in front, and from his cautious movements 
it is evident he is not far from his home. Suddenly he bursts out 
into song, and hurries through his whole melody, from the open- 
ing trill to the mellow closing notes. A few false starts and then 
he drops down amongst the young bracken, and is lost to sight. 
I mark with my eye the exact spot where he disappeared, and in 
a few minutes out he comes again, not far from the spot where 
he went in, and flies off noiselessly down the wood. I wait 
awhile for the hen bird, but see nothing of her, from which 1 
deduct that the eggs — if any — are not yet hatched, and that she 
is sitting close. I leave my hiding-place, and examine the spot 
where the cock bird had alighted, and look long and carefully 
