AN ARCADIAN CALENDAR 



AT HEAVEN'S GATE 



THE March day that gives the music of larks falling on 

 leagues of blossoming gorse recalls a fancy 

 Larks and of the poet (Swinburne) how the sun fills 

 Gorse the gorse's gold " with odour like the 



colour." The botanist would have us note 

 that the plant is not what it seems, but is a relation of 

 clover, as is clear from its infantile trefoil leaves ; even 

 its fragrance of honey is deceptive, as it is without 

 nectar ; the bee that unlocks the petals being rewarded 

 by an explosion of pollen- dust. The poet, caring for 

 none of these things, would make us see how the lark's 

 song and the gorse-bloom accord on a March day. 



IT is always with special pleasure that we hear the song 

 of the woodlark ; this minstrel is not com- 

 The mon, and his song, to many ears, is sweeter, 



Skylark's purer, and less guttural than the pibroch 

 Cousin of the skylark. He is known by his spiral 

 song-flight; if seen at close quarters, by the 

 strongly-marked eye-stripes and the short tail. Smaller 

 than the skylark, he is richer in hue. And he is more at 

 home in trees than the skylark (who knows only earth 

 and air), often flying to trees if alarmed, singing in 

 trees, and thence launching himself heavenwards. If it 

 is possible for any voice to be more joyous than the 

 skylark's, it is surely his cousin's. 



HOVERING may well be the supreme art of bird flight, 



with our wind-hoverer and lark among its 



Art of supreme masters. The kingfisher makes a 



Hovering shining picture as he hangs above the 



40 



