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 encou- 
rage 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 } T ou 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 wdiich 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 
denouncing 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 Larjc actually killed 
two other Finches that had their wings clipped, and ate them. 
Vol. IY. 10 
