248 LAND-BIRDS. 



The famous trait of the English " Sky Lark " is probably 

 known to most readers of this volume, his manner of flying 

 toward the sky, constantly pouring out his delicious music, 

 until almost lost to sight. The poet Shelley has addressed 

 this bird in these spirited lines : 



" Hail to thee, blithe Spirit ! 



Bird thou never wert, 

 That from heaven, or near it 



Pourest thy full heart 

 In profuse strains of unpremeditated art 



" Higher still and higher 



From the earth thou springest 

 Like a cloud of fire ; 



The blue deep thou wingest, 

 And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. 



" In the golden lightning 



Of the sunken sun 

 O'er which clouds are brightening, 



Thou dost float and run, 

 Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. 



" The pale purple even 



Melts around thy flight ; 

 Like a star of heaven 



In the broad daylight 

 Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight. 



" Teach me half the gladness 



That thy brain must know, 

 Such harmonious madness 



From my lips would flow 

 The world should listen then, as I am listening now ! " 



The last stanza of Wordsworth's " Ode to the Sky Lark " 

 is also very fine : 



" Leave to the nightingale her shady wood ; 



A privacy of glorious light is thine, 

 Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood 



Of harmony, with instinct more divine ; 

 Type of the wise, who soar, but never roam 

 True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home." 



NOTE. " The famed Skylark of the Old World "(Alauda 

 arvensis), says Dr. Brewer, "can rest on a twofold claim to be 

 included in a complete list of North American birds. One 

 of these is their occasional occurrence in the Bermudas, and in 



