.JUNE JOYS 133 



the idle hour preceding the feeding of the young, 

 or, at evening, marks the cessation of daily labours. 

 At that period the songs are also generally less 

 sustained, and yet, even as late as at the end of 

 July, I heard a skylark, whose particular ex- 

 cellence of voice attracted notice, sing from 5.44 

 to 6.13 a.m. 29 minutes. He was singing nearly 

 over my residence, and, watch in hand, I stood 

 under him, while the minutes grew, from first to 

 last, into a " record " so far as I know of a wild 

 lark's vocal endurance. From first to last his 

 rich variety of tone, his vivid changes from long, 

 flowing strains to impetuous passages of crowded 

 notes, and back to plaintive calls ; his abrupt 

 transitions from pure music to perfect reproduc- 

 tions of some familiar cries of other birds were all 

 sustained without a pause for deliberation, without 

 a rest from the long effort of the hovering wings ; 

 and, witnessing this glorious improvisation, this 

 tireless impulse, one realised that here was an 

 intelligent and brilliant songster, with mind in a 

 tumult of melodious themes, and with voice con- 

 trolled to pour them in one stream of beautiful 

 sounds from the sky not an unskilled automaton, 



