THE LARK. 



US 



sweeter, and up he goes higher and higher, till at last you see him a mere 

 speck in the sky ; but still ever and anon there comes to your ear a note of 

 his wild fitful melody. 



Though he rises so high, he is sure to have his nest on the lowly ground. 

 It is hidden down deep among the springing corn, in a little hollow place 

 scraped on purpose. It is made of stalks and blades of grass, and lined 

 with slender fibres. The eggs are four or five in number, and are of an oval 

 shape, and of a greenish grey colour, speckled with brown. When the mother 



THE DESERT-LARK. 



lark is sitting on her eggs, she would not move even if you passed close by, 

 and may even be caught by the hand. 



If she is forced to rise, she flies away close to the ground, in a tremulous 

 kind of way, and alights as near as she can. When she brings the food to 

 her young, she hovers over the nest, and then drops down a little distance 

 from it. 



The claws of the lark are very long ; as he does not roost in the trees, 

 but on the bare ground, and never uses them for scratching, it was a matter of 

 inquiry among naturalists why they should have been given, 

 J 



