124 OUR IRISH SONG BIRDS. 



be seen upon a rail, but the air and the earth are 

 emphatically its abiding-places. The protective instinct 

 of the Skylark, before alluded to, is also strikingly 

 manifested by the fact, that it never alights close to its 

 nest, after singing, but at some distance from it, 

 reaching it on foot. 



The nest is, as everyone knows, always on the ground. 



*' Thou, simple bird, dwellest in a home 

 The humblest ; yet thy morning song ascends 

 Nearest to heaven." 



The rut of a cart-wheel, or any slight hollow or 

 depression, is often availed of ; and there a simple 

 structure of grasses and fibrous roots is made to 

 contain the five greyish or brownish eggs the hen 

 Skylark calls her own. 



May we all, when our time comes, 



" Mount upward, lark-like, from the sod, 

 And join, O happy souls, the harmonies of God ! " 



MACKAY. 



WOODLARK. 



Alauda arbor ea ; Alouette lulu ; Baumlerche. 



Bill, legs, and claws, brownish; head, neck, and back, 

 dark brown ; feathers on the head sometimes form a 

 crest ; pale yellowish streak over the eye ; throat and 

 breast, pale brown ; tail, short ; hind-claw, straight, 

 and half again as long as the toe. Length, about six 

 inches and a half. 



I have only twice seen this bird alive : once when 

 crossing from Holyhead to Kingstown, when it alighted 



