A PIONEER 
an old stump, I ungraciously interrupted his 
breakfast, and found that it consisted of ants 
that were devouring the remains of a squir- 
rel’s hoard of nuts. Undoubtedly he was 
also finishing the feast. At another time he 
was flushed suspiciously near a number of 
empty snaiEshells that bore evidence of 
having been recently broken into. Now, I 
have no proof that he was responsible for 
the destruction of the snails, as I believe 
it may have been the work of downy wood- 
peckers, but the meadow lark was feeding at 
the same spot on something, and snails were 
the only food in sight. 
Usually he slept cuddled under the long 
marsh grass close to a hummock ; but more 
than once I have startled him from the 
friendly shelter of a brush pile, and once 
from the low crotch of a tree. For a long 
time he was the sole one of his kind in that 
meadow, and seemed to covet the society 
of a pair of horned larks who were always 
to be found there. Day after day he fed 
with them on the wet roadway, and the 
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