236 A TASTE OF KENTUCKY BLUE-GEASS 



have been worm-eaten instead of worn. The 

 tooth which has gnawed, and is still gnawing 

 it, is the carbonic acid carried into the earth by- 

 rain-water. Hence, unlike the prairies of the 

 West, the fertility of this soil perpetually renews 

 itself. The blue-grass seems native to this re- 

 gion; any field left to itself will presently be 

 covered with blue-grass. It is not cut for hay, 

 but is for grazing alone. Fields which have 

 been protected during the fall yield good pas- 

 turage even in winter. And a Kentucky win- 

 ter is no light affair, the mercury often falling 

 fifteen or twenty degrees below zero. 



I saw but one new bird in Kentucky, namely, 

 the lark-finch, and but one pair of those. This 

 is a Western bird of the sparrow kind which is 

 slowly making its way eastward, having been 

 found as far east as Long Island. I was daily 

 on the lookout for it, but saw none till I Avas 

 about leaving this part of the State. Near old 

 Governor Shelby's place in Boyle County, as 

 we were driving along the road, my eye caught 

 a grayish-brown bird like the skylark, but with 

 a much more broad and beautifully marked tail. 

 It suggested both a lark and a sparrow, and I 

 knew at once it was the lark-finch I had been 

 looking for. It alighted on some low object in 

 a ploughed field, and with a glass I had a good 

 view of it — a very elegant, distinguished-ap- 

 pearing bird for one clad in the sparrow suit, the 

 tail large and dark, with white markings on the 

 outer web of the quills. Much as I wanted to 

 hear his voice, he would not sing, and it was 



