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NATURAL HISTORY. 



This species is perhaps that which, excepting the Whitethroat and the Blackbird, begins to sing 

 earliest in the morning. On the 12th of March, 1835, while on an excursion along the coast, I was 

 greeted at half-past five, between Portobello and Musselburgh, with the full song of the Lark, followed 

 shortly after by those of the Robin and Blackbird, and the harsh cry of the Partridge. In the island 

 of Harris, about the middle of June, in 1820, when on my way to the summit of a hill to see the sun 

 rise, I heard the Lark at half-past one, and soon after the Snipe and Corn Crake. It ceases, however, 



in the evening much earlier than several of our songsters, especially the Blackbird, Thrush, and Robin. 

 The song of the Skylark is familiar to most persons, even those who in cities have exchanged the love 

 of nature inherent in humanity for the love of gain, fashion, and vicious excitement ; but were it not, 

 it would be as difficult for me to describe it as it would be for a musician to imitate it. Sometimes 

 the Lark sings on the ground, perched on a clod, or even crouched among the grass, but generally in 

 commencing its song it starts off, rises perpendicularly or obliquely in the air, with a fluttering 

 motion, and continues it until it has attained its highest elevation, which not unfrequently is such as 

 to render the bird scarcely perceptible. Even then, if the weather be calm, you hear its warble 

 coming faintly on the ear at intervals. It has been alleged that the Lark ascends in a spiral manner, 

 but my observation does not corroborate the statement. In rising, it often passes directly upward, 

 but with the body always horizontal, or nearly so. then moves in a curve, and continues thus 



