Birds of Oregon and Washington 7 1 



have delighted in it in imagination. Nearly 

 every one who has read poetry at all knows, 

 more or less intimately, Shelley's, and perhaps 

 Wordsworth's " Skylark " ; and many can repeat 

 at least a part of James Hogg's airy lines, be- 

 ginning 



"Bird of the wilderness, 

 Blithsome and cumberless." 



Whoever in Oregon has seen this bird soar, 

 and has heard him while soaring ever singing, 

 can appreciate Shakespeare's unequalled lines, 



" Hark, hark, the lark at Heaven's gate sings," 



and has felt that the poet has not overdone the 

 fact. The bird is enchanting beyond the de- 

 scriptive powers of poetry or prose. We must 

 see and hear the Skylark for ourselves. 



Behold a bird rising from the meadow, and 

 the instant it is on the wing beginning a flood 

 of exquisite song of rapid variation which does 

 not cease, even for breathing, till, sometimes 

 after fifteen or twenty minutes, it drops again 

 to earth ! Meanwhile, it is literally in the sky, 

 and lost to sight if the eye should, even for an 

 instant, surrender its object. No bird on our 

 continent so nearly bursts with gladness. There 



