178 ALAUDID^E. 



to which it ascends, and the time which it remains sus- 

 pended in mid-air. But the Skylark needs no panegyrists, 

 so, with all due deference to those who have struck the 

 lyre in its honour, I will endeavour to describe its habits 

 and haunts in humble prose. 



The Skylark is a generally-diffused bird, adapted by the 

 conformation of its claws for perching on the ground, and 

 by its length and power of wing for soaring high in the 



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air. Accordingly, its food consists of small insects and 

 seeds, which it collects among the herbage of stubble- 

 fields, meadows and downs, or in newly-ploughed fields. 

 To this fare, it adds in winter and spring the tender stalk 

 of sprouting corn. Hence it is regarded with deadly hos- 

 tility by farmers, and hence, too, the quiet of the country 

 is much disturbed at these seasons, by boys employed 

 to frighten it away by screaming and plying a peculiar 



