120 THE SKYLARK 
fields. To this fare, it adds in winter and spring the tender stalk 
of sprouting corn. Hence it is regarded with deadly hostility 
by farmers, and hence, too, the quiet of the country is much dis- 
turbed at these seasons, by boys employed to frighten it away 
by screaming and plying a peculiar kind of rattle. During autumn 
and winter, Larks congregate in large flocks, and occupy their time 
principally in searching for food on the ground. If disturbed, 
they rise in a scattered manner, wheel about in the air until the 
flock is formed again, chirping from time to time, and then with- 
draw, not ina compact body, but at unequal distances from the earth 
and from each other, to a new feeding-ground, over which they hover 
with circling flight for some time before alighting. On trees they never 
perch; though one or two may occasionally be seen settled on a 
quickset hedge or a railing. In North Britain, at the approach 
of severe weather, they flock together and migrate southwards. 
Great numbers also visit England from the Continent, arriving in 
November,when they used to be caught in nets and traps for the table. 
Early in spring the flocks break up, when the birds pair, and for 
three or four months, every day and all day long, when the weather 
is fine (for the Lark dislikes rain and high winds), its song may 
be heard throughout the breadth of the land. Rising as it were by 
a sudden impulse from its nest or lowly retreat, it bursts forth, 
while as yet but a few feet from the ground, into exuberant song, and 
withits head turned towards the breeze, now ascending perpendicu- 
larly, and now veering to the right or left, but not describing circles, 
it pours forth an unbroken chain of melody, until it has reached 
an elevation computed to be, at the most, about a thousand feet. 
To an observer on earth, it has dwindled to the size of a mere 
speck ; but, as far as my experience goes, it never rises so high 
as to defy the search of a keen eye. Having reached its highest 
elevation, its ambition is satisfied without making any permanent 
stay, and it begins to descend, not with a uniform downward 
motion, but by a series of droppings with intervals of simple hover- 
ing, during which it seems to be resting on its wings. Finally, 
as it draws near the earth, it ceases its song and descends more 
rapidly, but before it touches the ground it recovers itself, sweeps 
away with almost horizontal flight for a short distance and dis- 
appears in the herbage. The time consumed in this evolution is 
at the most from fifteen to twenty minutes, more frequently less ; 
nor have I ever observed it partially descend and soar upwards 
1 Farmers would effect a great saving if they sowed their wheat deeper 
than is the usual practice. The only part of the young plant which the Lark 
touches is the white stalk between the grain and the blade. In its effort to 
obtain this it frequently destroys the whole plant, if the grain has been lodged 
near the surface; but if the young shoot has sprouted from a depth of an 
inch or more, the bird contents itself with as much as it can reach without 
digging, and leaves the grain uninjured and capable of sprouting again. 
