114 SPRING. 



is always abundance both to admire and to learn in 

 her productions. Nor can any thing be more in har- 

 mony with the situation in which we find it, than the 

 song of the lark. The bird is the very emblem of 

 freedom : floating in the thin air, with spreading tail 

 and outstretched wings, and moving its little head, de- 

 lightedly, first to one side and then to the other, as ff 

 it would communicate its joy around, it at last soars to 

 such an elevation that, if visible at all, it is a mere 

 dark speck in the blue vault of heaven; and, carrolling 

 over the young year, or the young day, while all is 

 bustle and activity, the airy wildness of the song makes 

 its whole character more peculiar and striking. But 

 its joy is sometimes checked by the terror-striking ap- 

 proach of a bird of prey, when the descent of the soar- 

 ing songster is instant and rapid ; and it is fortunate 

 that the little trembler often thus escapes the ravenous 

 beak of its enemy. 



The bird is remarkable for its gracefulness, whether 

 on the ground or on the wing. Though, when singing, 

 the lark generally, if not always, moves its wings, pro- 

 bably to assist in the music as well as to give buoyancy, 

 there is much ease and grace in its flight. In the ease 

 with which it sails along, and bends its course into 

 any curve, whether vertical or lateral, it proves a re- 

 markable contrast with many of the other birds, 

 which get through the air with a succession of leaps, 

 as if they were not in their proper element. Of these, 

 the greatest contrast is found by the pipits, birds which 

 have been considered as larks, though they have nei- 

 ther the air nor the manners of the skylark. The 

 structure of the lark, as has been said, adapts it for a 

 smooth and graceful flight, and the peculiar formation 



