238 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



and loud, rising higher and higher from its lowly 

 home in the herbage, like the heart of the Chris- 

 tian, which, if constrained to dwell awhile on 

 earth, can at times lift itself to heaven. 



The French call the sky-lark, Alouette de 

 champs ; the Italians, Lodola canter ina, and Lo- 

 dola di monta/jno; and it is the Feld Lerche of the 

 Germans. It is very general in all the countries 

 of Europe. 



A very sweet singer is the Wood-lark,* ( xiJaiuh 

 arborea,) but though its flute-like notes are as 

 rich and sweet as those of the sky-lark, they are 

 liardly so varied and never so loud. It is even 

 an earlier singer than that bird, and is associated 

 in our minds with the cold wintry days. At a 

 season when the eye wanders in vain in search of 

 a green bough, save where it rests on, a wild holly 

 or a garden evergreen, and when the meadow- 

 grass has but few daisies among it; at a time 

 when winds sweep through the desolate woods, 

 this bird is singing his long full song for hours 

 together; and when joined by several of its com- 



* The Wood-lark is six inches in length. The plumage re- 

 sembles that of the sky-lark, but it may be distinguished by a 

 pale streak above each eye. 



