182 MODES OF FLIGHT AND SONG. 



numerous, and they are soft and rather plaintive, while those of the 

 Skylark are the merriest of all the feathered race. 



When the Woodlark is near trees, it varies its pitch and cadence 

 probably more than the Skylark. It comes from the ground to the 

 tree in a sort of waving course, singing very low, and giving but a 

 portion of its brief stave. Then it perches, and sings in an uniform 

 key, but not full and round ; after a little while, wheels upward, 

 more wildly and rapidly than the Skylark, swelling its song as it 

 ascends, and sometimes rises higher than the ordinary flight of the 

 other, but not generally so high. When it takes the top of its flight, 

 it sends down a volume of song which is inexpressibly sweet, though 

 there is a feeling of desolation in it. The song, indeed, har- 

 monises well with the situation ; and to hear the Woodlark on a wild 

 and lone hill-side, where there is nothing to give accompaniment, 

 save the bleating of a flock, or the tinkle of a sheep-bell, so distant as 

 hardly to be audible, is certainly equal to the hearing even of those 

 more mellow songs which are poured forth in richer situations. 



Bechstein pronounces this of all Larks'the sweetest songster, 

 and excepting only the Nightingale and Chaffinch, of all 

 birds the most delightful which retain their natural song. 

 Bolton says that some bird-fanciers prefer it even to the 

 Nightingale, with which it sometimes contends for superiority 

 in song, invading even those hours which are generally 

 considered sacred to the queen of feathered vocalists : 



What time the timorous hare limps forth to feed, 

 When the scared owl skims round the grassy mead, 

 Then, high in air and poised upon his wings, 

 Unseen, the soft enamoured Woodlark sings. 



Blyth also says that on hot summer nights, Woodlarks 

 soar to a prodigious height, and hang singing in the 

 air. Knapp thus praises the vocal powers of the bird, and 

 describes its peculiar habits : 



The Redbreast, Blackbird and Thrush, in mild winters, may con- 

 tinually be heard, and form exceptions to the general procedure of 

 our British birds ; and we have one little bird, the Woodlark, that in 

 the early parts of the autumnal months delights us with its harmony, 

 and its carols may be heard in the air commonly during the calm 

 sunny mornings of this season. They have a softness and quietness 

 perfectly in unison with the sober, almost melancholy, stillness of the 

 hour. The Skylark also sings now, and its song is very sweet, full of 

 harmony, cheerful as the blue sky, and gladdening beam in which it 

 circles and sports, and known and admired by all ; but the voice of 



