626 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



great devotion ; he had trilled his refrain from beginning to end a 

 least twenty times when it occurred to me to time and count his songs. 

 The whole of each trilling occupied 15 seconds, and after I began to 

 count he repeated it from beginning to end eighty-two times ; just as he 

 should have entered on the eighty-third, his wings closed, his tail went 

 up, and down he fell headlong ; but my eyes were blinded with the bright- 

 ness, and my neck refused to take part in further proceedings, so that I 

 was not able to mark the bird for closer examination. This singer had 

 serenaded me for about an hour, and I do not think he ranked above 

 his fellows in staying power. 



On May 19 collected a skylark that sang its song only twenty times 

 before it dashed down to earth. Saw another singing on the ground ; 

 this is the only case of the kind I have observed. It is one of the com- 

 monest of prairie birds in western Manitoba. Its loud ventriloqual 

 voice is heard from the clouds on all hands when it is in full song. 

 This song was for long a riddle past my solving. I felt sure of its be- 

 ing the utterance of some bird on the prairie, but where, I could not 

 tell nor trace; wherever I went, it seemed to be just a little further 

 ahead, or to one side or another, or suddenly behind. Throughout the 

 whole season of 1882 I was thus duped, and it was by chance that at 

 last I found the singer to be away up in the sky, but so high that as 

 it was a bright day it was impossible to follow with the eye the tiny 

 speck whose music was shaking the air for thousands of feet around. 

 The song is sweet and far-reaching, and both Audubon (the discoverer) 

 and Dr. Coues (the further elucidator) have given most enthusiastic 

 descriptions of its moving power and melody. When the skylark feels 

 the impulse to sing, he rises from the bare prairie ridge with a peculiar 

 bounding flight, like that of the pipit; up, in silence, higher and higher 

 he goes, up, up, 100, 200, 300, 500 feet; then, feeling his spirits corre- 

 spondingly elevated, he spreads his wings and tail and pours forth the 

 strains that are making him famous. The song at the beginning is 

 much like that of the English Skylark, and the notes are uttered de- 

 liberately but continuously, and soon increase in rapidity and force, 

 till in a few seconds the climax is reached, after which they fade away 

 in a veery-like strain, and then suddenly stop. While this was being 

 sung the bird had floated downwards, and as soon as it is finished he 

 proceeds, by the bounding flight, to regain his elevation and once more 

 pour out his silvery strains. 



Several times after a skylark had sung and returned to earth, with 

 the headlong descent already described, I purposely flushed him, and 

 at once he rose without further preamble, soberly remounted his imagi- 

 nary 500-foct platform, and again sang his serenade from beginning to 

 end. Thus on one occasion I called the same bird three times " before 

 the curtain ; " to the fourth encore, however, he would not respond, and 

 each subsequent time that he was disturbed he would fly oft" some 200 

 yards and again settle on the prairie. Once only have I observed this 

 species singing his full song on the ground. 



