The Travellers 



away, with feet pendant and wings outspread 

 like the Dove in a sacred picture. Now 

 then : take aim and fire ! I wish my readers 

 the excitement of this fascinating sport. 



With the Skylark, often in the same com- 

 panies, comes the Tit-lark, commonly called 

 the Sisi. Here again an onomatopoeia gives 

 us the bird's little call-note. None goes with 

 greater fury for the Owl, round whom he 

 manoeuvres and hovers constantly. But we 

 will not continue the list of the birds of pass- 

 age that visit us. Most of them make but a 

 short halt here; they stay for a few weeks, 

 attracted by the abundance of food, especially 

 of insects; then, plump and strong, they 

 pursue their southward journey. Others, 

 fewer these, take up their winter-quarters in 

 our plains, where snow is very rare and where 

 thousands of little seeds lie exposed on the 

 ground, even in the depth of winter. One of 

 these is the Skylark, who gives his attention to 

 the corn-fields and fallows; another is the 

 Titlark, who prefers the lucern-fields and 

 meadows. 



The Skylark, so common in almost every 



part of France, does not nest in the Vaucluse 



plains, where his place is taken by the Crested 



Lark, that frequenter of the broad highway, 



245 



