96 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



almost endless task to enumerate the poets who have 

 written on this delightful songster. 



Its habit of singing in mid-air adds indescribably to 

 the charm of its melody ; now its notes die away in soft 

 cadences, now they come swelling in ringing glee. 

 Mounting upwards, it leads our thoughts away from 

 earth, and while we watch the tiny speck in the blue 

 sky until it fails our sight, the notes of joy still fall on 

 our delighted ear, prompting our hearts to rise in unison 

 of praise to Him who made us both. 



" Higher still and higher, 

 From the earth thou springest 



Like a cloud of fire ; 

 The blue deep thou wingest, 



And singing still dost soar, 

 And ever soaring singest." 



The skylark is one of our earliest songsters, even 

 cheering the winter with its melody. On the 22nd of 

 Januaty, ] 854, while the sun was shining brightly, I heard 

 two singing as gaily as in summer, and another on the 

 10th of February the same year. It will sing also when 

 everything is shrouded in darkness, as if the daylight was 

 not long enough for its lays of love. On the 1 2th of 

 April, 1 853, very early in the morning, when it was so 

 dark that I could not see distinctly many yards before 

 me, and in the space of half a mile, I counted six or 

 seven larks soaring at a great height, as I judged by 

 their song, for of course I could not see them. About 

 half an hour after this, the first faint tinge of light 

 appeared in the eastern sky, and as it increased until 

 first one object and then another came into view, bird 

 after bird rose from the dewy grass with sprightly song, 

 until the very air was vocal. 



