XIII. 

 MUSICAL ENTRIES A PLEA. 



How often does it strike the epicure after the soup and 

 the fish have been removed, and when the entrte has 

 made its appearance, of what that dish is often composed ? 

 The menu frequently reveals the fact that this course is 

 the savoury remains of Larks, of Quails, or of Ortolans. 

 What are these mystic creatures, at the sound of whose 

 name the mouth of the luxurious diner is apt to water ? 

 They are birds : one of them common enough in this 

 country ; the others not sufficiently so to make their 

 capture pay in a commercial sense, so that we have to 

 depend upon the bird-catchers of France and Holland, 

 and even Italy, for the supply. Who can view the Lark's 

 tiny body, all stripped of its beautiful plumage, without 

 sending a thought to the breezy fields, and the wild 

 uplands where this charming little songster lives, and 

 where he gladdens the rural scene with his matchless 

 melody. No songster is more thoroughly English than 

 the Sky Lark. Its voice is the language of the fields, the 

 music that is in keeping with the cattle grazing peace- 



K 



