disappear, and presently
fly up minus the worm. Scarcely daring to breathe, I followed a direct
course to the weed-clump from which she had risen. And there was a nest,
sure enough--my first lark bunting's--set in a shallow pit of the
ground, prettily concealed and partly roofed over by the flat and
spreading weed-stalk. Four half-fledged youngsters lay panting in the
little cradle, the day being very warm. I lifted one of them from the
nest, and held it in my hand for a minute or two, and even touched it
with my lips, my first view of lark-bunting babies being something of an
event--I had almost said an epoch--in my experience. Replacing the
youngster in its crib, I stepped back a short distance and watched the
mother bird returning with another mouthful of "goodies," and feeding
her bantlings four. She was not very shy, and simply uttered a fine
chirp when I went too close to her nestlings, while her gallant consort
did not even chirp, but tried to divert my attention by repeatedly
curveting in the air and singing his choicest measures. This was the
only bunting's nest I found, although I made long and diligent search
for others, as you may well believe when I state that a half day was
spent in gathering the facts recorded in the last two paragraphs.

In the afternoon I watched a female in another field for a long time,
but she was too wary to betray her secret. In this case the male,
instead of beguiling me with song, flitted about and mingled his fine
chirps with those of his anxious mate. On my way across the plains,
some two weeks later, I discovered that the lark buntings do not dwell
only in well-watered meadows, but also in the most arid localities.
Still, I am inclined to think they do not build their nests far from
refreshing streams. When the breeding season is over, they range far and
wide over the plains in search of insects that are to their taste. From
the car window many of them were observed all along the way to a
distance of over sixty miles east of Denver. At that time the males,
females, and young were moving from place to place, mostly in scattering
flocks, the breeding season being past. A problem that puzzled me a
little was where they obtain water for drinking and bathing purposes,
but no doubt such blithe and active birds are able to "look out for
number one."

The second member of our lyrical quartette is the elegant green-tailed
towhee, known scientifically as _Pipilo chlorurus_. The pretty