248 LAND-BIRDS. 



The famous trait of tlie English " Sky Lark " is probably 

 known to most readers of this volume, — his manner of flying 

 toward the sky, constantly pouring out his delicious music, 

 until almost lost to sight. The poet Shelley has addressed 

 this bird in these spirited lines : — 



" Hail to thee, blithe Spirit ! 



Bird thou never wert, 

 That from heaven, or near it / 



Pourest thy full heart 

 In profuse strains of unpremeditated art 



" Higher still and higher 



From the earth thou springest 

 Like a cloud of fire ; 



The blue deep thou wingest, 

 And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. 



" In the golden lightning 



Of the sunken sun 

 O'er which clouds are brightening, 



Thou dost float and rim. 

 Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. 



" The pale purple even 



Melts around thy flight ; 

 Like a star of heaven 



In the broad daylight 

 Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight. 



" Teach me half the gladness 



That thy brain must know. 

 Such harmonious madness 



From my lips would flow 

 The world shoTild listen then, as I am listening now ! " 



The last stanza of Wordsworth's " Ode to the Sky Lark " 

 is also very fine : — 



" Leave to the nightingale her shady wood ; 



A privacy of glorious light is thine. 

 Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood 



Of harmony, with instinct more divine ; 

 Type of the wise, who soar, but never roam — 

 True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home." 



Note. — " The famed Skylark of the Old World ''(Alauda 

 arvensis)^ says Dr. Brewer, "can rest on a twofold claim to be 

 included in a complete list of North American birds. One 

 of these is their occasional occurrence in the Bermudas, and in 



