. The birds of Washington; a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . rks are the morceaux delicieuxof all the powers that prey, skunks, weasels, mink, raccoons, coyotes, snakes,magpies, crows. Hawks and owls otherwise blameless in the bird-world errhere—the game is too easy. Even the noble Peregrine does not disdainthis humble, albeit tooth-some, quarry, and theLeast Falcon (F a I c usparverius phalccna) wistoop for a young Mead-owlark when all otheravian offerings are virtu-ously passed by. Fecundity then is theonly recourse,—this, andconcealm
. The birds of Washington; a complete, scientific and popular account of the 372 species of birds found in the state . rks are the morceaux delicieuxof all the powers that prey, skunks, weasels, mink, raccoons, coyotes, snakes,magpies, crows. Hawks and owls otherwise blameless in the bird-world errhere—the game is too easy. Even the noble Peregrine does not disdainthis humble, albeit tooth-some, quarry, and theLeast Falcon (F a I c usparverius phalccna) wistoop for a young Mead-owlark when all otheravian offerings are virtu-ously passed by. Fecundity then is theonly recourse,—this, andconcealment. Not reiv- ing: altogether upon its marvelous protectivecoloration the larkexhibits great cau-tion in approaching,and, if possible, inquitting its nest. Ineither case it sneaksalong the ground fora considerable dis-tance, threading themazes of the grassso artfully that thehuman eye can fol-low with difficulty ornot at all. At the ap-proach of danger a sittingbird may either steal from hernest unobserved and rise at asafe distance or else seek tofurther her deception by feign-ing lameness after the fashion. Taken in Stevens County. Photo by the Author. NEST AND EGGS OF THE WESTERN MEADOWLARK. THE WESTERN MEADOWLARK. 67 of the Shore-birds. Or, again, she may cling to her charge in desperationhoping against hope till the last possible moment and taking chances of finalmishap. In this way a friend of mine once discovered a brooding Meadow-lark imprisoned underneath his boot—fortunately without damage for sheoccupied the deep depression of a cow-track. To further concealment the grass-lined depression in which the Meadow-lark places her four or five speckled eggs is almost invariably over-archedwith dried grasses. This renders the eggs practically invisible from above,and especially if the nest is placed in thick grass or rank herbage, as iscustomary. Touching instances of blind devotion to this arch tradition were,however, afforded by a sheep-swept pasture near Adrian. He
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Keywords: ., bookauthordaws, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds
