578 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA — THOMPSON. 



All after that was a torrent of melody beyond any mode of expression 

 at my command, until the final bar with iliite-lilie clearness is rendered 

 and repeated : 



^^1^^^^^^ 



and then the singer sails downward to the prairie where sits the one 

 for whom alone was meant this passionate strain. 



There is yet one more type of song with this bird. It is a prolonged 

 tender warbling, quite unlike the far-reaching chants, for it is so low 

 and soft that at a hundred yards distance it becomes inaudible. I have 

 heard it only a few times, and then it was uttered by the male bird, 

 standing on some low perch not far removed from the nest where his 

 less musical though not less beautiful mate was brooding. 



Throughout the nesting season the air-song and the gentle conjugal 

 refrain may be heard in full strength, for love is the life of their 

 melody ; but after the young have flown these are heard no more, 

 though still the shorter lays are uttered daily and hourly from the 

 few low perches offered by the i)rairie. 



During the heat of summer, when other birds are hushed, the Prairie 

 Lark continues in song both by day and by night; and even when chill 

 October draws nigh, he still lingers on the i)rairies and warbles in the 

 brown grass with much of the power and sweetness of springtime. The 

 latest seasonal observation that I have of the bird was of one singing a 

 farewell to the already snow-whitened plains late in October, after which 

 he took wing, and I watched him till out of sight in the southern sky. 



How comes it that this prince of songsters has so long continued 

 almost unknown*? Why are we of the new world so heedless of our 

 native singers ? Had such a voice been brought forth in Italy, its 

 praises would have furnished a worthy theme to many a noble pen : 



Aud Ovid, could he but have heard, 



Had hnng a Icgeudaiy pain, 

 About the mention of the bird. 



True, I find on reference to standard works of natural history' brief 

 notes in connection with our bird, such as " One of the most delightful 

 voices of the prairie " (Cones) ; " Impressed by its Avonderful beauty of 

 song " (Brewer) ; " Their songs are lively, sweet, and varied ; they 

 sing at all seasons, early and late, from the ground, from the tree-top, 

 and in the air" (Cooper) ; " Highly musical, contending even with the 

 mocking-bird for supremacy in song" (Lieutenant Couch); "In the 

 depth of its tone and the charms of its articulation its song is hardly 

 excelled " (Kidgway). 



And yet so inadequate is the power of mere words, that, though I had 

 previously read these opinions, I was wholly taken by surprise when 



