236 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



bird which may intrude on the domestic privacy ; 

 while the hen bird has been known to place her- 

 self before the fowler, in order to call his attention 

 from the nest. Mr. Jesse, in his " Gleanings," 

 mentions an anecdote illustrative of this affec- 

 tion, which was related to him by a clergyman 

 in Sussex. This gentleman " was riding gently 

 towards Dell Quay, in Chichester Harbour, with 

 two friends, where, having passed the toll-bar, 

 the road is of good elevation, and separated by 

 a short quick-set hedge, on each side, from the 

 fields, over whicli tliere was a commanding view. 

 When in this situation their attention was attracted 

 by a shrieking cry, and they discovered a pair of 

 sky-larks rising out of the stubble, and crossing 

 the road before them at a slow rate, one of them 

 having a young bird in its claws, which was 

 dropped in the opposite field at a height of about 

 thirty feet from the ground, and killed by the fall. 

 On taking it up, it appeared to have been hatched 

 about eight or nine days. The affectionate parent 

 was endeavouring to convey its young ones to 

 a place of safety, but its strength failed in tlie 

 attempt." So careful is the sky-lark of revealing 

 the place of its nest, that when the eggs or young 



