96 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 
almost endless task to enumerate the poets who have 
written on this delightful songster. 
Its habit of singing ia mid-air adds indeseribably to 
the charm of its melody ; now its notes die away in soft 
cadences, now they come swelling in ringing glee. 
Mounting upwards, it leads our thoughts away from 
earth, and while we watch the tiny speck in the blue 
sky until it fails our sight, the notes of joy still fall on 
our delighted ear, prompting our hearts to rise in unison 
of praise to Him who made us both. 
“ 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 ever soaring singest.” 
The skylark is one of our earliest songsters, even 
cheering the winter with its melody. On the 22nd of 
January, 1854, while the sun was shining brightly, I heard 
two singing as gaily as in summer, and another on the 
10th of February the same year. It will sing also when 
everything is shrouded in darkness, as if the daylight was 
not long enough for its lays of love. On the 12th of 
April, 1853, very early in the morning, when it was so 
dark that I could not see distinctly many yards before 
me, and in the space of half a mile, I counted six or 
seven larks soaring at a great height, as I judged by 
their song, for of course I could not see them. About 
half an hour after this, the first faint tinge of light 
appeared in the eastern sky, and as it increased until 
first one object and then another came into view, bird 
after bird rose from the dewy grass with sprightly song, 
until the very air was vocal. 
