12 The Larks of Germany. 



their merry throng, and erlking's will-'o-the wisp lures you 

 into unknown depths. Hurriedly we pass along the barren 

 fallow waste, close by the sombre forest. But lo ! Up from 

 the sterile barren goes a song, clear, bright and cheery. Is it 

 a new spirit form that wants to mock us ? Everywhere it 

 seems to carry peace and comfort by its virile master-melody — 

 a lovely greeting to the weary, wandering man ! High up 

 into the air they soar, those earnest, flute-like notes. Forgot- 

 ten are the hobgoblins of the night, sweet thoughts of rest 

 and joy enter thy heart, trust to God is poured into thy soul ! 

 Yes, praised be thou, O woodlark, thou living voice of moun- 

 tain-heath and solitude ! Though not crowned with the 

 Nightingale's laurels, not made immortal by the poet's strain, 

 to me thou art dearer in thy modesty. Not only in the daz- 

 zling light of day thou cheerest us, the dwellers on the earth,^ 

 but in the night, "which is no mortal's friend," thou bring- 

 est with thy heavenly flute a welcome to the lonely pilgrim ! 



'Tis a song simpler than the Skylark's, but still more 

 pleasing to the ear, a true ring of the forest's rustling leaves. 

 It is a slow verse of some ten to twelve deep flute-notes, fol- 

 lowed in a few seconds by a higher trill. Each spiral of its 

 flight brings out a new verse, clear, powerful and melodious, 

 full of masculine strength and not so much of feminine senti- 

 mentality as the Skylark's song. And even in the fall good 

 singers let their voices be heard, though softer then and more 

 subdued. Her flight is not so wide, more swerving than the 

 Skylark's, and on the ground she is more modest in her 

 agile movements than the latter. Twice a year she makes her 

 pretty, well-built home on the ground in the heath or by the 

 elder-bushes, to hold her five white, gray-speckled eggs. 

 Carefully running on the ground for quite a distance, she 

 brings the food to her loudly clamoring young. One of the 

 latest birds to leave us in the fall, she is one of spring's earliest 

 messengers, with her heavenly song, though snow may still 

 cover the heath and forest, and we rejoice to have her with us 

 again. 



