THE SKYLARK. 297 



Mode of flying Numbers caught. 



....." Up springs the lark, 

 Shrill voic'd and loud, the messenger of morn: 

 Ere yet the shadows fly, he, mounted, sings 

 Amid the dawning clouds, and from their haunts 

 Calls up the tuneful nations." 



The lark mounts almost perpendicularly, and 

 by successive springs, into the air ; where it ho- 

 vers at a vast height. Its descent is in an oblique 

 direction : unless threatened by some ravenous 

 bird of prey, or attracted by its mate ; when it 

 drops to the ground like a stone. When it first 

 leaves the earth, its notes are feeble and inter- 

 rupted; but as it rises, they gradually swell to 

 their full tone. There is something in the con- 

 comitant scenery, that renders the music of the 

 lark peculiarly delightful : the placid landscape 

 and various rural charms all contribute to heighten 

 our relish for its pleasing song. 



In winter, when their song forsakes them, the 

 ikylarks then assemble in flocks, grow fat, and 

 are caught in vast numbers by the bird-catchers. 

 As many as four thousand dozen have been known 

 to be taken in the neighbourhood of Dunstable, 

 between September and February; but this holds 

 no proportion to what are sometimes caught in 

 different parts of Germany, where there is an 

 excise upon them. Keysler says, that the excise 

 alone produced six thousand dollars (about nine 

 hundred pounds sterling) every year to the city 

 of Leipsic ; the larks of which place are famous 

 all over Germany, as being of a most delicate fla- 

 vour. But it is not only at Leipsic that they 



VOL. in. NO. xxn. 2 P 



