12 Sketches of Some Co7nmon Birds. 



to and fro in the snow-laden gloom, uttering their single 

 " tseep," and I wondered at their powers of flight and 

 their indifference to the " whirl-dance of the blinding 

 storm." 



After the breaking of winter on any of those warm, 

 captivating days whose brightness is suggestive of ven- 

 turesome bluebirds and hardy robins, and whose influence 

 causes the bird-lover unconsciously to gravitate toward 

 the fields long untenanted by the forms of summer, the 

 Duptial song of the horned lark arises from the exposed 

 ground or floats down to our ears from aerial regions. 

 Truly it is a most welcome ditty, this first bird-song -of 

 the young year, and at this season it is sympathetic and 

 expressive, telling of more genial breezes and bluer skies, 

 picturing green meadows and livelier landscapes. It is not 

 unlike the song of the meadow lark, though much weaker 

 and less musical, forming a sweet, pleasing twitter worthy 

 of a less dreary setting. This early song is the harbinger 

 of the mating season, and thereafter the birds congregate 

 less frequently, soon pairing and choosing sites for their 

 lowly habitations. 



With the advance of the season, the males become more 

 vivacious, and frequently they alight on the top of a fence, 

 wall, or stake, there to sit and repeat their madrigals to 

 their lady-loves on the ground below. While rambling 

 over the meadows or strolling along the country lanes in 

 April the bird-seeker will recognize the notes of the lark 

 seeming to come from nowhere in particular, and he will 

 scan the ground and surrounding landscape to discover the 

 songster. Soon he may perceive the form of the bird as 

 it mounts into the air by a succession of irregular, stair- 

 like flights, until it reaches a height almost to the limit 

 of his range of vision. There it floats in the flood of 

 light, rising a few yards with fluttering pinions and then 

 falling about the same distance with expanded wings and 

 outspread tail, lisping its short ditty while it sinks. 

 Again it ascends in short, irregular curves, and again it 

 einks singing as before, our real American skj^lark, 



" For with a lark's heart he doth tower, 

 By a glorious upward instinct drawn." 



