Song Birds and Water Fowl 
very much like mice, and apparently hiding 
among the little irregularities of the ground. 
Occasionally, when I came unexpectedly near, 
the whole flock would whirl up a little distance 
in the air, and, with a lively and musical chic- 
a-chic-a-chic-a, fly to a remote spot, and resume 
active life on the ground. At other times, as 
if in a spasm of sudden joy, they would mount 
to a great height, circle about with the swift- 
ness and asandon of a bevy of swallows, and 
then return, like a boomerang, almost to the 
very spot from which they rose. They are 
easily detected, as they run about over the hard 
snow; but, on the bare ground, their color 
blends so perfectly with that of the soil, that 
it is extremely difficult to find them, unless 
their occasional burst of tinkling notes reveals 
them. Some weeks after my first visit, I found 
the flock in the same field as before, which, 
possibly, has been their base of supplies through 
the winter. 
The shore lark has a double claim upon our 
interest, by reason of its own attractive person- 
ality, and as being the only representative 
among us of the famous lark family of Europe, 
immortalized especially by the ecstatic motions 
and gushing song of the field lark — Alauda 
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