iJO THE SKYLARK 



fields. To this fare, it adds in winter and spring the tender stalk 

 of sprouting corn. Hence it is regarded with deadly hostility 

 by farmers, and hence, too, the quiet of the country is much dis- 

 turbed at these seasons, by boys employed to frighten it away 

 by screaming and plying a peculiar kind of rattle. 1 During autumn 

 and winter, Larks congregate in large flocks, and occupy their time 

 principally in searching for food on the ground. If disturbed, 

 they rise in a scattered manner, wheel about in the air until the 

 flock is formed again, chirping from time to time, and then with- 

 draw, not in a compact body, but at unequal distances from the earth 

 and from each other, to a new feeding-ground, over which they hover 

 with circling flight for some time before alighting. On trees they never 

 perch ; though one or two may occasionally be seen settled on a 

 quickset hedge or a railing. In North Britain, at the approach 

 of severe weather, they flock together and migrate southwards. 

 Great numbers also visit England from the Continent, arriving in 

 November, when they used to be caught in nets and traps for the table. 

 Early in spring the flocks break up, when the birds pair, and for 

 three or four months, every day and all day long, when the weather 

 is fine (for the Lark dislikes rain and high winds), its song may 

 be heard throughout the breadth of the land. Rising as it were by 

 a sudden impulse from its nest or lowly retreat, it bursts forth, 

 while as yet but a few feet from the ground, into exuberant song, and 

 with its head turned towards the breeze, now ascending perpendicu- 

 larly, and now veering to the right or left, but not describing circles, 

 it pours forth an unbroken chain of melody, until it has reached 

 an elevation computed to be, at the most, about a thousand feet. 

 To an observer on earth, it has dwindled to the size of a mere 

 speck ; but, as far as my experience goes, it never rises so high 

 as to defy the search of a keen eye. Having reached its highest 

 elevation, its ambition is satisfied without making any permanent 

 stay, and it begins to descend, not with a uniform downward 

 motion, but by a series of droppings with intervals of simple hover- 

 ing, during which it seems to be resting on its wings. Finally, 

 as it draws near the earth, it ceases its song and descends more 

 rapidly, but before it touches the ground it recovers itself, sweeps 

 away with almost horizontal flight for a short distance and dis- 

 appears in the herbage. The time consumed in this evolution is 

 at the most from fifteen to twenty minutes, more frequently less ; 

 nor have I ever observed it partially descend and soar upwards 



1 Farmers would effect a great saving if they sowed their wheat deeper 

 than is the usual practice. The only part of the young plant which the Lark 

 touches is the white stalk between the grain and the blade. In its effort to 

 obtain this it frequently destroys the whole plant, if the grain has been lodged 

 near the surface ; but if the young shoot has sprouted from a depth of an 

 inch or more, the bird contents itself with as much as it can reach without 

 digging, and leaves the grain uninjured and capable of sprouting again. 



