FEBRUARY. 35 



necessaries of life ; and every sunlit field is musical 

 with the strife of skylarks. Whichever sex it may 

 be that predominates among skylarks, the quarrels 

 that catch the eye seem always to be those of rival 

 males for the affections of a female. You see at 

 once, too, that such beauty competition as there may 

 be among these plain-coloured birds is all on the side 

 of the males. The female stands demurely apart, 

 looking as dull, not to say dowdy, as ever ; but the 

 males are transformed. With crests erect, pale body- 

 feathers fluffed out so as to send the general aspect 

 of the plumage up two shades in colour, with wings 

 half open and tails up-tilted and spread enough to 

 show the half-white outermost feathers and the white 

 margins of the next ones contrasting with the almost 

 blackness of the other webs, you would hardly take 

 them for common skylarks as they vehemently peck 

 the ground in challenge to each other. 



"NONE BUT THE BRAVE." 



But "showing off" is only a small part of the 

 skylark's courtship. No doubt it has its influence 

 upon the wooed one ; perhaps, too, she has not been 

 unmindful of the trills and cadences of her two 

 suitors when they sang aloft. But the real issue is 

 decided by single combat ; and in a moment the two 

 larks, singing so fast as to be almost squealing, have 

 met in the air, and are whirling round and round 

 each other. Whether blows are actually exchanged, 

 or whether beak merely fences with beak, it is im- 

 possible to say, so quick are their movements ; but 

 after half grappling several times in the air, they 



