148 BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



ground, soaring a foot again ere he drops and squats in 

 the grass, as is his custom on meeting a stranger. 



If ever he sees you walking over the soft marshes, hke 

 the partridge, whom he resembles in many things, he will 

 squat and trust to capricious fortune. A breezy day, too, 

 is dear to him, for soaring is the easier ; he rides upon the 

 wind in glorious freedom. But if you are not to be seen, 

 woe to the brother lark who catches his sight when he 

 alights ; for his native pugnacity is aroused, and he darts at 

 his foe all quivering with excitement, running at him eager 

 for the fray; for larks seldom walk, except upon a " new-lay " 

 and in cold weather. In fighting they will often fly up face to 

 face, fighting with beak and claws and beating each other 

 with their wings. 



At times, too, out there on the silent empty marshes, you 

 may witness a tragedy as a young lover soars into the azure 

 and suddenly drops dead from the heights beside his mate, 

 rebounding from the marshland like a stone, his little heart 

 being broken and his song having silenced in mid-air. 



All the year round the lark is the usherer in of the day. 

 No sooner does the daylight sky rise than the little balls 

 in their grassy forms start into life, for at eventide they puff 

 into a ball ere they go to sleep. Dung is dropped, and 

 they begin to sing, some soaring into the starry sky, 

 others answering with a defiant note from their grassy beds. 

 And so all through the day you may hear them at the proper 

 season till dark. 



And in June you will know that the courting season is 

 near, for you will then see trios over the amber reeds, two 

 cocks and a hen. Neck and neck they fly, one cock chasing 

 the other, and darting every now and then at his rival, but 

 seldom pecking him, and the flouting hen enjoys it, flying 

 as strongly as they, uttering a peculiar note. Round and 

 round, over reed-bed and dyke and marshland, until one 

 cock flies off and leaves the victor with the hen. The}^, 

 later on, fly off to a grass marsh to collect quick and foul 



