S6 MATESHIP WITH BIRDS 



came from bush and tree and sky in the days of 

 Spring. 



Excluding the capricious little Pipit, or Ground- 

 Lark, southern Australia knows four species of 

 these favorite birds, namely, the old-world Sky- 

 Lark, its Australian relative the Bush-Lark, and 

 two distinctively Australian members of another 

 family, known as the Black-breasted and Rufous 

 Song-Larks. The famous introduced singer has 

 long stayed closely about the environs of Port 

 Phillip Bay, and is only now gradually extending 

 along the open spaces up-country. Evidently the 

 Sky-Lark finds the Austral bush as "weird" as did 

 Marcus Clarke, and will not attempt to cross it. 

 The native Larks, of course, are not so fastidious, 

 but they, too, for the most part, prefer to live out 

 their melodious lives in the wide spaces of the land. 

 The Rufous Song-Lark is the exception. Given a 

 small grassy paddock in which to feed and hide its 

 eggs the beauty of which, by the way, altogether 

 flouts the protective coloration theory its only 

 other requirements are a few trees, fences, or tele- 

 graph wires for use as rostrums and resting-points. 

 Frequently the bird will rise singing from the grass, 

 but more often he I take it that only the male bird 

 sings is first seen flying strongly from tree to tree 

 across a paddock, carolling joyously the while, and 

 continuing the song after alighting. 



It may be unduly fanciful to suggest that a touch 

 of red or rufous in a small bird's plumage is token 

 of an ecstatic disposition; but, after reflecting on 

 the sparkling notes and actions of the Cardinal 

 Honeyeater and Scarlet-breasted Mistletoe-Bird, we 



