S.HOHL LAEK. 



rather their flight, to their native land, the inhospitable climes 

 of the frozen north; few, however, wander to the very extremest 

 polar regions. 



The Shore Lark is rather shy in its habits, but, when 

 engaged with its young, sits very close, either through a 

 temporary change of disposition, or from anxiety for its brood, 

 as if conscious of the protection which nature has afforded 

 to it in the assimilation of the colour of its plumage to that 

 of the scanty verdure alone to be found where it has its 

 dwelling. Should, however, danger seem to approach too 

 closely, the anxious mother nutters away from any chance 

 intruder, feigning lameness so cunningly, that none but one 

 accustomed to the sight could refrain from pursuit. Her 

 partner immediately joins her in mimic wretchedness, uttering 

 a soft and plaintive note. It would appear that these birds 

 may be kept in confinement. 



Its food consists of the buds, blossoms, and seeds of the 

 stunted vegetation of the Arctic regions, and such insects as 

 may there be also found. Flies it expertly chases on the 

 wing; and at times it betakes itself to the sea-shore, to search 

 for minute shell -fish or Crustacea. 



The male bird sings sweetly while on the wing, although 

 its song is comparatively short. It rises from the moss, or 

 the bare rock, in a short oblique flight of a few yards, begins 

 and ends its madrigal, performs a few irregular evolutions, 

 and returns to the ground. There also it sings, but less 

 frequently, and with less fullness. It has at times a ven- 

 triloquistic power, which makes its note seem like that of 

 another species. When the young are hatched, the music, 

 for the most part, ceases the 'cares of a family' are felt by 

 the feathered as well as by the human species. 'There is a 

 time for all things,' says the wise man ; 'a time to weep, and 

 a time to laugh.' 



In the desolate and sterile tracts which extend in the 

 high latitudes from the sea-shore to regions, if possible, still 

 more savagely wild and barren, the whole face of the country 

 is described as one boundless succession of hoary granite rock, 

 covered with mosses and lichens, varying in size and hue 

 some green, others as white as snow, and others of divers 

 colours of every tint, and growing in large tufts and patches. 

 Here the Shore Lark builds, and rears her young. 



The nest, which is composed of fine grasses, circularly 

 disposed, and lined with feathers, exactly resembles in colour 



