66 



JOURNAL OF THE WILD BIRD IXVESTU.ATION SOCIETY. 



" The chaffinch in East London, with its eye- 

 balls seared by red-hot needles, sings too in its 

 prison, when it has grown accustomed to its 

 darkened existence, and is in health ; but no per- 

 son, not even the dullest ruffian amongst the 

 baser sort of bird-fanciers, would maintain for a 

 moment that the happiness of the little sightless 

 captive, whether vocal or silent, is at all compar- 

 able in degree to that of the chalhnch singing in 

 April ' on the orchard bough," vividly seeing the 

 wide sunlit world, blue above and green below, 

 possessing the will and the power, when its lyric 

 ends, to transport itself swiftly through the crj-s- 

 tal fields of air to other trees and other woods." 

 — \V. H. Hudson. 



" While the lark soars, circling, imo the sky, 

 his carol is a loud, bubbling trill, instinct with 

 vigorous health, free movement, and utter de- 

 light — an evident challenge to sorrow and pain. 

 The phrasing lengthens when he attains the 

 zenith of his flight, and as the bird descends his 

 song changes and becomes plaintive, pleading, 

 questioning, till, as he drops with shut wings to 

 the earth, it ends with two or three notes the 

 most passionate and beautiful of all. It were vain 

 to attempt an interpretation of the skylark's 

 carol, for it cannot be compared w ith the outcome 

 of any emotion felt in the human heart. But it 

 is, nevertheless, akin to something that strives 

 within us for utterance." — A. W. Rees. 





