MELLOW ENGLAND. 185 



them on this occasion, though if I took my eye away 

 for a moment it was very difficult to get it back again. 

 I had to search for them as the astronomer searches 

 for a star. It may be that in the spring, when the 

 atmosphere is less clear, and the heart of the bird full 

 of a more mad and reckless love, that the climax is 

 not reached until the eye loses sight of the singer. 



Several attempts have been made to introduce the 

 lark into this country, but for some reason or other 

 the experiment has never succeeded. The birds have 

 been liberated in Virginia and on Long Island, but do 

 not seem to have ever been heard of afterwards. I 

 see no reason why they should not thrive anywhere 

 along our Atlantic sea-board, and I think the question 

 of introducing them worthy of more thorough and 

 serious attention than has yet been given it, for the 

 lark is really an institution, and as he sings long after 

 the other birds are silent, as if he had perpetual 

 spring in his heart, he would be a great acquisition 

 to our fields and meadows. It may be that he can- 

 not stand the extremes of our climate, though the 

 English sparrow thrives well enough. The Smith- 

 sonian Institute has received specimens of the sky- 

 lark from Alaska where, no doubt, they find a climate 

 more like the English. 



They have another prominent singer in England, 

 namely the robin, the original robin redbreast, 

 a slight, quick, active bird with an orange front and 

 an olive back, and a bright musical warble that I 

 caught by every garden, lane, and hedge-row. It 



