THE SONG OF THE SKYLARK 113 



vigorously to work, the distress abates, and the runner 

 finds his " second wind." Sooner or later, if violent 

 exertion is kept up, the poisons get the upper hand again ; 

 the muscles, brain and heart begin to fail, and now the 

 failure is more lasting ; the body has not only become 

 fatigued, but poisoned by poisons of its own making. 

 Training strengthens and enlarges the muscles ; it also 

 improves the adjustment, and, so to speak, educates the 

 vascular, nervous and eliminating organs. There have 

 been morris-dancers, who by long discipline have become 

 capable of dancing, singing, and playing the fiddle at the 

 same time, and this for long together. In the skylark 

 the adjustment is so good that even great and prolonged 

 exertion does not disturb the respiration. 



The continuous prolongation of the song of the skylark 

 would be hard to understand except on the supposition 

 that it is maintained by the incoming as well as by the 

 outgoing breath. 



Poets call the skylark him, and the nightingale her, but 

 all singing birds are males, with the not very important 

 exception that the females of a very few species (canary, 

 lark, bullfinch, &c.), especially when solitary, are able to 

 produce a tolerable melody. Song is primarily the allure- 

 ment of the male ; with this he secures the affections of 

 the female, and with this he encourages her to persevere 

 in her toilsome duties of nest-building and hatching. But 

 no one can observe the lark long without being persuaded 

 that he often sings merely because it pleases him. His 

 song may be heard at any time of the year except during 

 the three or four months of deepest winter, and of course 

 family affairs do not occupy his attention anything like 

 so long as this, though two broods of young larks have 

 to be reared in one season. 



Why has the lark such long claws to his toes ? Is it a 

 provision for running more easily on grass the tread 

 being lengthened to suit the yielding grass for the same 

 reason that snow-shoes are lengthened far beyond shoes 



H 



