228 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



[Alauda arvensis) is singing at heaven's gate so 

 rejoicingly^ that we feel that there can be few 

 sounds of earth 



"■ More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear." 



AVe watch the bird as it ascends almost per- 

 pendicularly in its direction, but by sudden starts 

 and a somewhat curve-like motion. Higher and 

 higher it rises, and 



" Singing ever soars, and soaring ever sings ;" 



soon it is a tiny speck in the blue sky, but its 

 voice reaches us yet, in one clear ioud carol ; and 

 now the bird is lost to our sight in the blue clouds, 

 Init the strain is heard still. Those who hear the 

 lark singing thus high in the air, know that it 

 gives a promise of some hours of fine weather ; for, 

 like many of our old proverbs, that which is in 

 common use in country places, in some measure is 

 founded on correct observation — 



" When the lark is mounted high, 



He drives the clouds out from the sky." 



These are but rough rhymes, yet it is true that 

 the bird will not sing during rain, nor mount far 

 in the air when the sky is at all overcast. But 



