164 RIVERBY 



manent residents in other parts of the State. They 

 are nearly as large as the English skylark, with con- 

 spicuous black markings about the head and throat; 

 shy birds squatting in the sear grass, and probably 

 taken by most country people who see them to be 

 sparrows. 



Their flight and manner in song is much like that 

 of the skylark. The bird mounts up and up on 

 ecstatic wing, till it becomes a mere speck against 

 the sky, where it drifts to and fro, and utters at in- 

 tervals its crude song, a mere fraction or rudiment 

 of the skylark's song, a few sharp, lisping, unmelo- 

 dious notes, as if the bird had a bad cold, and could 

 only now and then make any sound, heard a long 

 distance, but insignificant, a mere germ of the true 

 lark's song; as it were the first rude attempt of na- 

 ture in this direction. After due trial and waiting, 

 she develops the lark's song itself. But if the law 

 of evolution applies to bird-songs as well as to other 

 things, the shore lark should in time become a fine 

 songster. I know of no bird-song that seems so 

 obviously struggling to free itself and reach a fuller 

 expression. As the bird seems more and more in- 

 clined to abide permanently amid cultivated fields, 

 and to forsake the wild and savage north, let me 

 hope that its song is also undergoing a favorable 

 change. 



How conspicuous the crows in the brown fields, 

 or against the lingering snowbanks, or in the clear 

 sky ! How still the air ! One could carry a lighted 

 candle over the hills. The light is very strong, 



