248 OUR NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



lark, while the birdcatchers call it the mud- 

 lark, and it is sometimes termed the dusky-lark. 

 It is a very common bird on the southern shores of 

 England, as well as in several parts of Scotland 

 and Wales, and is well known to most who 

 live on our shores. Tt is amusing to watch the 

 motions of this little bird as it nuis along the sandy 

 margin, picking up the shell-fish from the mass 

 of sea-weed, and making a merry note as it finds 

 one there, or lying loose on tlie sand. It seems 

 the most sprightly of birds, and has a joy in its very 

 motion ; and when the waters are falling gently 

 and musically upon the rocky coast, the sweet 

 song whicli it suigs to them has a peculiar charm. 

 It is not among those old rugged cliffs which bend 

 over the sea that we look for song. — the liarsh 

 notes of the sea-birds, though in unison with the 

 wild solitudes, have little of melody. But when 

 our rock pipit pours forth its sweet low tones, the 

 notes are so like those which we are accustomed 

 to hear among green fields and shady woods, that 

 the thoughts involuntarily turn to those secluded 

 inland spots, which to those whose early days 

 were spent in the country, seem lovelier than the 

 sandy or rock-bound coast. It is almost the only 



