THE SKYLARK. 83 



O thou light-loving and melodious bird, 



At every sad and solemn fall 



Of mine own voice, each interval 

 In the soul-elevating prayer, I heard 



Thy quivering descant full and clear, 



Discord not inharmonious to the ear ! 



We laid her there, the minstrel's darling child ; 



Seem'd it then meet that, borne away 



From the close city's dubious day, 

 Her dirge should be thy native wood-note wild ; 



Nursed upon Nature's lap, her sleep 



Should be where birds may sing and dewy flowerets weep." 



From its blithe, joyous song, the skylark is often kept 

 in captivity. Gay, in Epistle IV., makes the bird relate 

 how the advantages of his song doom him to captivity and 

 misery : 



" For what advantage are these gifts to me ? 

 My song confines me to the wiry cage ; 

 My flight provokes the falcon's fatal rage ! " 



There is one consolation to the poor caged prisoner. 

 Could he but know it, he gives solace and joy to many a 

 poor bedridden sufferer, and to others in our crowded cities, 

 in hours of toil and pain ; but when we see it trampling on 

 its bit of turf in its bow-windowed cage, with head upraised 

 and fluttering wings, we realise that it has indeed lost its 

 liberty, and no longer 



" Singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest." 



It is remarkable how the skylark easily distinguishes 

 its enemies amongst the Falconidce. Professor Newton 

 says : " The appearance of a merlin will cause the sudden 

 cessation of the song at whatever height the performer 

 may be, his wings are closed, and he drops to the earth 

 like a falling stone. The kestrel, however, is treated with 

 indifference, and in the presence of a sparrow-hawk the 

 skylark knows that safety is to be sought aloft." 



The skylark's nest is always placed on the ground, and 

 generally contains three to five eggs of a French white 

 colour, freckled with brownish blotches. Grahame, in his 



