At the Water’s Edge 
ceptional, of a gifted soul within an unpre- 
possessing exterior ; in fact, there are extremely 
few species that are not more presentable. Our 
own shore lark, which is also a denizen of 
Europe, and there called the handsomest of the 
family, is a much more attractive specimen. 
Perhaps we have no plainer bird than the 
sweet-voiced vesper sparrow, which the field lark 
closely resembles ; being a triflelarger, of about 
the same color on the back, and with similar 
pure white outer tail-feathers. On the slender 
basis of its having occasionally been found in 
Greenland and in Bermuda, it is included in 
the list of North American birds. But most of 
the attempts, made hitherto, to introduce and 
naturalize this remarkable species in our own 
land, by which alone it can ever become a 
prominent member of our avifauna, have been 
unsuccessful. 
In its summer home our own shore lark, so 
silent when with us, is said to exhibit vocal 
powers not unworthy of the family repute, and 
to mount and sing upon the wing like the 
European species; although, according to Au- 
dubon, it does not begin to sing until its high- 
est altitude is reached. But why does its heart 
warm toward Labrador? Although that dis- 
a 
