SKYLARK. 85 



And of the nest he says — 



The daisied lea he loves where tufts of grass 

 Luxuriant crown the ridge ; there with his mate, 

 He forms their lowly house of withered bents, 

 And coarsest spear^rass : next, the inner work 

 With finer, and still finer fibres lays, 

 Rounding it curious with his speckled breast. 



The following Stanza in P>ench is successful in imitating the 

 song of the Skylark, and describing its evolutions : — 



La gentille alouette avec son tirelire, 

 Tirelire, relire et tirelire, tire 

 Vers la votite du ciel ; puis son vol en ce lieu 

 Vire, et semble nous dire, Adieu ! Adieu ! 



Shakespeare describes the song of the Skylark in similar 

 words — 



The Lark, that tirra-lirra chants. 



Winter's Tale, Song, Act IV., 2. 



Shelley has written some excellent verses on the Skylark, 

 commencing : — 



Hail to thee, blithe spirit ! 



Bird thou never wert, 

 That from the heaven, or near it, 



Pourest thy full heart 

 In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. 



Higher still and higher. 



From the cloud thou springest, 

 Like a cloud of fire 



The blue deep thou wingest. 

 And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. 



With so wide and favourite a subject some further poetical 

 illustrations must be given : — 



The busy Larke, the messenger of day, 

 Saleweth in hire song the morne grey. 



Chauc^-r— Knight's Tale. 



The Lark that shuns on lofty bough to build 

 Her humble nest lies silent in the field. 



Waller— 0/ the Queen. 



It was the Lark, the herald of the morn. 



Shakespeare— ^meo and Juliet, III., 5. 



The merry Larks are ploughman's clocks. 



Shakespeare— i. L. Lost, V., 2. 



