When the meadowlark sings on a fence-rail she but cons her lesson from the stars.

One hot, stifling spring in the Little Antelope I had occasion to pass and repass frequently the nest of a pair of meadowlarks, located unhappily in the shelter of a very slender weed.

She had fed her young son with meadowlarks' tongues, to make him quick of speech; but in late years was loath to admit it, though she had come through the period of unfaith in the lore of the clan with a fine appreciation of its beauty and significance.

She might as well try to explain the sparkle of the sunshine, or the joyousness of the meadowlark's song in the spring, as to try to analyze the luminous wonder that had come into her own heart that day when the purple mist lay on the Tiger Hills, and the snowdrifts were beginning to sink and sag and break into little streams.

The heart in the girl sang a song of sunshine dancing on grass, of meadowlarks flinging out their carefree notes of joy.

It brought back dear memories of glorious April mornings on Long Island, when through the singing of robin and song-sparrow comes the piercing cadence of the meadowlark; and of the far northland woods in June, fragrant with the breath of pine and balsam-fir, where sweetheart sparrows sing from wet spruce thickets and rapid brooks rush under the drenched and swaying alder- boughs.

Meadowlark Basin.

R102680, 19Nov52, Dele Newman Doke (C) SINCLAIR, BERTHA (MUZZY) Meadowlark Basin, by B. M. Bower [pseud.] Front.

"And when do they go away again?" "The great bird procession begins the first of March with Bluebirds, Robins, Redwings, and Meadowlarks, but it is the first of June before the latest comers, the little Marsh Wrens, are settled.

The birds flying over the alders are Red-winged Blackbirds; those coming from the pines are Purple Grackles; the big black ones flying overhead are Crows; and the yellow-breasted fellows walking in the grass are Meadowlarks.

THE MEADOWLARK [Illustration: Meadowlark.]

THE MEADOWLARK [Illustration: Meadowlark.]

"In early March the Meadowlark comes to the places that he was obliged to leave in the winter, and cries, 'Spring o' the year!

"Then the Meadowlark begins to earn his living, and pay his taxes at the same time, by searching the fields and pastures first for weed seeds and then, as the ground softens, for the various grubs and beetles that meant to do mischief as soon as they could get a chance.

Here the mother tends the eggs and nestlings, the father always keeping near to help her, and continually singing at his daily toil of providing for his family as charmingly as if he were still a gay bachelor; for Meadowlarks are very affectionate both toward each other and their young.

"Olaf says the Meadowlarks are raising their second brood now and he can find you some empty nests, if you go with him, so you can see how they are made; he will show you the Redwings' nests, too.

The Meadowlark Length ten to eleven inches.

"There is a very handsome, rare, wonderful kind of a Meadowlark walking on the lawn by the front steps.

Do you think he has come out of a cage?" "No, missy, that is not a Meadowlark, is not rare or wonderful, and has not been in a cage; that is an every-day sort of a Woodpecker, having many names.

This Woodpecker is not only a beautiful, but a useful, Citizen, doing almost as much work in the guild of Ground Gleaners as the Meadowlark, besides being a Tree Trapper and Seed Sower.

The Doctor smiled as he said: "Here is another case of mistaken identityvery much like Dodo with her rare Meadowlark!

The Redwings and Meadowlarks sing all day long, the Marsh Wrens come along to join in, the Snipe begin to call, the Spotted Sandpipers whistle up, and we get a visit from the Wild Geese as they fly north.

Meadowlark Sturnel'la mag'na.

The meadowlarks would stop their singingeven the trailing shadows would seem to waver uncertainlyand only the creek would go gurgling on, uncaring.

Half the crew rolled their beds and rode elsewhere to spend the winter, returning, like the meadowlarks, with the first hint of soft skies and green grass.