266 , VOICES OF BIRDS. 



delights to fix its residence near little groves and 

 copses, or quiet pastures, and is a very unobtrusive 

 bird, not uniting in companies, but associating in 

 its own little family parties only, feeding in the 

 woodlands on seeds and insects. Upon the ap- 

 proach of man, it crouches close to the ground, then 

 suddenly darts away, as if for a distant flight, but 

 settles again almost immediately. This lark will 

 often continue its song, circle in the air, a scarcely 

 visible speck, by the hour together ; and the vast 

 distance from which its voice reaches us in a calm 

 day is almost incredible. In the scale of compari- 

 son, it stands immediately below the nightingale in 

 melody and plaintiveness ; but compass of voice is 

 given to the linnet, a bird of very inferior powers. 

 The strength of the larynx and of the muscles of 

 the throat in birds is infinitely greater than in the 

 human race. The loudest shout of the peasant 

 is but a feeble cry, compared with that of the 

 golden-eyed duck, the wild goose, or even this 

 lark. The sweet song of this poor little bird, with 

 a fate like that of the nightingale, renders it an 

 object of capture and confinement, which few of 

 them comparatively survive. I have known our 

 country birdcatchers take them by a very simple 

 but effectual method. Watching them to the 

 ground, the wings of a hawk, or of the brown owl, 

 stretched out, are drawn against the current of air 

 by a string, as a paper kite, and made to flutter 

 and librate like a kestrel over the place where the 

 woodlark has lodged ; which so intimidates the 



