146 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



to permit of its doing so. It is therefore always 

 to be observed on the ground. It has been seen 

 to rest on a bough, but merely for a second or 

 two, in the course of its descent. This pipit is 

 not migratory, and so remains with us throughout 

 the year. Its length is given at five inches and a 

 half, being thus smaller by an inch than the tree- 

 pipit. Its song is not remarkable for its variety 

 or melody, being short and simple. 



The Rev. C. A. Johns, in his * British Birds,' 

 quotes the following very beautiful French lines 

 on the skylark, which a friend of mine has trans- 

 lated. I give both the original and the transla- 

 tion : 



* La gentille alouette, avec son tirelire, 

 Tirelire, relire et tirelirant tire 

 Vers la voute du ciel ; puis son vol en ce lieu 

 Vire, et semble nous dire : Adieu, adieu, adieu.' 



TRANSLATION. 



' The skylark, with his roundelay, 

 Trills, trills, and trilling, mounts his way 

 To heaven's blue vault ; then soars from view, 

 And seems to bid us : Adieu, adieu.' 



The lines necessarily lose somewhat of their 

 value in the translation, but the author of the 

 latter has, I think, very gracefully rendered their 

 exact meaning. 



There are some three or four families of our 

 British birds to which I have not as yet re- 

 ferred, and which are apt to be somewhat con- 

 fusing to a person not sufficiently acquainted with 



