THE SKY-LARK 175 



upwards and upwards, looking less and less as he 

 climbs an invisible path on fluttering wings to the 

 clouds ? Ever) where (as we wrote of this bird long 

 years ago), from the grass lands and the fields of 

 grain, from the open downs, from the moors and the 

 heaths, the Larks are rising ; one after the other they 

 go; fluttering, fluttering, fluttering, round and round, 

 upwards in a spiral course two thousand feet or more 

 into the sky, revelling in the freedom of the bound- 

 less air, bubbling over with song and happiness. 

 Fainter and fainter gets the song ; only its loudest 

 strains now reach the earth ; yet fainter still, until 

 the sweeter notes are lost beneath the mighty dome 

 of blue sky, and even the sweet singer himself is 

 almost lost to view. Then the zenith of the flight 

 is reached, and the bird descends once more ; louder 

 and louder now grows his music ; gently, almost 

 imperceptibly he frills; lightly and gracefully he 

 comes, until within a few feet of the ground, when 

 his trembling throat becomes silent, the tired flutter- 

 ing wings are closed, and like a stone he drops into 

 the green cover once more. Aerial movements are, 

 however, by no means essential to the utterance of 

 the song; the bird sometimes warbles just as sweetly 

 upon the ground ; whilst his voice in a cage cannot 

 be accompanied by the soaring flight although often 

 uttered with beating wings. The song of this Lark, 

 if not presenting much variety, is composed of 

 wonderfully clear notes, and is uttered so continu- 



