SKY LARK. 167 



has attracted so much attention as the Sky Lark, nor any that 

 has been so much celebrated by poets and sentimental writers. 

 It might be a pleasant task to cull from our choicest authors 

 the flowers of \)oesj which derive their beauty from the gentle 

 influence of this sweet songster of the fields ; but I must leave 

 it for those who love to study nature from books, as I find it 

 more profitable to listen to the cheering notes of the Lark her- 

 self, to gaze upon her as she floats flutteringly high uj) in the 

 blue sky, to watch her descent, and run up to inspect her nest 

 among the green grass, while her beloved young ones are re- 

 joicing at her arrival. 



Towards the end of autumn, the Sky Larks congregate in 

 large straggling flocks, generally keeping by themselves, al- 

 though occasionally mingling with small birds of the Passerine 

 and Bunting families. In open weather they frequent the 

 stubble and ploughed fields, where they pick up the seeds of 

 oats, wheat, barley, polygona, and other plants. Like the De- 

 glubitores and many of the Cantatores, they use a large quan- 

 tity of sand and gravel, consisting chiefly of grains of quartz, 

 to aid the process of digestion. I believe their food during the 

 winter consists almost entirely of seeds, although remains of 

 insects may now and then be found in their gizzards. At this 

 season they employ only their ordinary flight, w^hich bears some 

 resemblance to that of the Fieldfare, being performed by slight 

 undulations, and several consecutive flaps of the wings, with 

 short alternate cessations. They generally hover over a field, 

 or fly about in curves, before they alight, which they do in 

 rather an abrupt manner, but not so rapidly as the Corn and 

 Yellow Buntings. On alighting they disperse, and move 

 about, not by leaps, like most small birds, but by an alternate 

 action of the feet, in a half-gliding half-startful manner, keep- 

 ing their legs bent and their breasts consequently close to the 

 ground. When in any degree alarmed, they crouch, draw in 

 their neck, and remain motionless until the object of their ap- 

 prehension has disappeared. Should a person walk up to a 

 flock, he may get quite close to it before the birds think it ne- 

 cessary to rise ; and on such occasions thay do not all take 

 fliffht at once, a few here and there risinsf in succession. In- 



