Nor is the effort of the Western Meadowlark confined to the formal song for he often pours out a flood of warbling, chattering and gurgling notes which at close range are very attractive. Not infrequently he will interrupt one of these meditative rhapsodies with the clarion call, and return immediately to his minor theme. In the presence of a stranger the lark serves frequent notice of intended departure in a vigorous _toop_, or _toob_, accompanying the sound with an emphatic flirt of the wings and jerk of the tail. Now and then the actual departure is accompanied by a beautiful yodelling song. After several preliminary _toobs_ the bird launches himself with fantastic exaggeration of effort and rolls out, _O′ly o′ly o′ly o′ly o′ly_, with ravishing sweetness. At nesting time the parent birds have many causes for apprehension, and as they move about in search of food they give vent to the _toob_ note of distrust in a fashion which soon becomes chronic. In Douglas County this note is doubled, _two′ bit_, or _two′ whit_, and one cannot recall the varied life of the sage in June without hearing as an undertone the half melancholy _two′ bit_ of a mother Meadowlark as she works her way homeward by fearful stages. At nesting time the Western Meadowlark enjoys a wide distribution in Washington. It is found not only on all grassy lowlands and in cultivated sections but in the open sage as well and upon the half-open pine-clad foothills up to an altitude of four thousand feet. The Meadowlark is an assiduous nester. This not because of any unusual amativeness but because young Meadowlarks are the _morceaux délicieux_ of all the powers that prey, skunks, weasels, mink, raccoons, coyotes, snakes, magpies, crows. Hawks and owls otherwise blameless in the bird-world err here—the game is too easy. Even the noble Peregrine does not disdain this humble, albeit toothsome, quarry, and the Least Falcon (_Falco sparverius phalæna_) will stoop for a young Meadowlark when all other avian offerings are virtuously passed by. [Illustration: _Taken in Stevens County._ _Photo by the Author._ NEST AND EGGS OF THE WESTERN MEADOWLARK.]