14 THE HORNED LARK. 



and distinctly uttered, and the rest somewhat hurriedly run 

 together. However, like the faces and voices of ^certain 

 people, this ditty sweetens on acquaintance, and finally be- 

 comes a real source of pleasure. 



But I must not be diverting. I am still looking into the 

 deep blue, when the black speck unmistakably reappears, 

 and gradually enlarges as the bird approaches. Down, 

 down it comes, meteor-like, with wings almost closed, until 

 one fears it will dash out its life on the earth. But no, 

 it alights in safety, and steps along with all its wonted 

 stateliness, dividing the time between its luncheon and its 

 song. Many a time since, and sometimes as early as the last 

 days of February, I have witnessed the same maneuver, 

 and always with renewed pleasure. So Bayard Taylor is 

 not mistaken after all, when, in his " Spring Pastoral," he 

 speaks of 



" Larks responding aloft to the mellow flute of the Bluebird." 



And though the song of our bird can bear no comparison 

 to the astounding song-flights of the European Skylark, 

 their similarity of manner indicates the relationship of the 

 two species. 



In the northwest, on the prairies abont the Upper Missouri 

 and its tributaries, is the Missouri Skylark, so admirably 

 described by Dr. Coues, and which, in its lofty flight and 

 great powers of song, seems scarcely if at all second to the 

 famous bird of the Old World. 



The Horned Lark is 7-7.50 inches long, somewhat larger 

 than our ordinary-sized sparrow, its shape being about as 

 peculiar as its voice. The bill is rather long for a song- 

 bird, quite pointed, and a little curved; on its head are two 

 tufts of erectile black feathers, from which it receives part 

 of its common name. As in the case of other larks, but 

 unlike the rest of the song birds, the scales of the leg extend 



