NOTES BY THE WAY 



guished foreign lover. It would sometimes take 

 refuge in a bush, when the lark, not being a percher, 

 would alight upon the ground beneath it. This 

 sparrow looks enough like the lark to be a near 

 relation. Its color is precisely the same, and it has 

 the distinguishing mark of the two lateral white 

 quills in its tail. It has the same habit of skulk- 

 ing in the stubble or the grass as you approach; it 

 is exclusively a field-bird, and certain of its notes 

 might have been copied from the lark's song. In 

 size it is about a third smaller, and this is the most 

 marked difference between them. With the nobler 

 bipeds, this would not have been any obstacle to 

 the union, and in this case the lark was evidently 

 quite ready to ignore the difference, but the sparrow 

 persisted in saying him nay. It was doubtless this 

 obstinacy on her part that drove the lark away, for, 

 on the fifth day, I could not find him, and have 

 never seen nor heard him since. I hope he found 

 a mate somewhere, but it is quite improbable. The 

 bird had, most likely, escaped from a cage, or, 

 maybe, it was a survivor of a number liberated some 

 years ago on Long Island. There is no reason why 

 the lark should not thrive in this country as well 

 as in Europe, and, if a few hundred were liberated 

 in any of our fields in April or May, I have little 

 doubt they would soon become established. And 

 what an acquisition it would be! As a songster, 

 the lark is deserving of all the praise that has been 

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