THE LARKS 209 



is the rule, females are said to have been shot while singing after the 

 approved male fashion. 1 



As to the cause, or stimulus to song, it must be sufficient here to 

 remark that it is generally supposed to be due to exuberance of spirits, 

 and directly associated with the course of the reproductive activities. 

 Certainly it attains its maximum power during the courting season, 

 and it is supposed that the lark, like other sombre-hued birds, makes 

 up for lack of colour by this gift of melody. The fact that females 

 also may occasionally sing and the song begins before the trying 

 period of courtship, and is continued long after does not militate 

 against the view that it is primarily a sexual character. But the lark, 

 like other songsters, sings also when under the influence of fear, and 

 instances are on record of their singing when pursued by a hawk. 

 " When . . . larks have completed their moult, and are confident of 

 their powers of flight, I have actually known them to rise up before a 

 merlin, singing all the time, and to continue their song into the sky." 

 So writes Falconer. 2 On the other hand, according to Yarrell, when 

 singing in mid-air he will cease his strains and drop to the ground if a 

 merlin makes his appearance. 3 



That the skylark has a rival in song among his own kindred is 

 not generally known, yet those who know both birds well agree that 

 the song of the woodlark in compass surpasses that of its relative, 

 though in point of variety it is decidedly inferior. The duration of 

 its song is also, on the average, greater according to some it may 

 be sustained for an hour 4 and it extends over as long a period of 

 the year. Like the skylark, it sings on the wing, mounting, unlike 

 its larger relative, not perpendicularly, but in wide circles. The 

 ascent is not so high, however, and the descent is made in spirals, 

 wherein again it is peculiar. Like the skylark, and more commonly, 

 it will sing when on terra firma, a favourite coign of vantage being the 

 upper branches of a tree. 



1 Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 100. 2 British Birds, December 1909, p. 222. 

 3 Yarrell's British Birds, vol. i. p. 615. 4 Montagu, Ornithological Dictionary, 



