THE SONGLESS BIRDS. 109 



alternately, but without a continued spiral motion. At first the motion of the wings is uniformly 

 fluttering, but afterwards it shoots them out two or three times successively at intervals, and when at 

 its greatest height exhibits this action more remarkably. When it descends, the song is not inter- 

 mitted, but is continued until it approaches the ground, when it usually darts down headlong, and 

 alights abruptly. Frequently it resumes its song after alighting, and continues it for a short time, 

 but more commonly it stops when it has reached the ground. Often, the Lark may be seen hovering 

 over a field, in full song, for a considerable time at a small height. On the 4th of May, 1837, I 

 observed a Lark perched on a half-twist whin branch, where it remained singing a long time. I have 

 often seen it perch on a wall, and several times on a hawthorn bush in a hedge, but it never, I believe, 

 alights on tall trees. 



" The song of the Lark is certainly not musical, for its notes are not finely modulated, nor its 

 tones mellow, but it is cheerful and cheering in the highest degree, and protracted beyond all 

 comparison. In a sunny day in April or May, when the grass-fields have begun to resume their 

 verdure, it is pleasant to listen to the merry songster that makes the welkin ring with its sprightly 

 notes ; in the sultry month of July still more pleasant is it to hear its matin hymn while the dew is 

 yet on the corn ; and in winter, should you chance to hear the well-known voice on high, it reminds 

 you of the bright days that have gone, and fills you with anticipation of those that are to come. No 

 doubt much of the pleasure derived from the Lark's song depends upon association, and to him who 

 finds delight in wandering over the green fields, along the daisied margin of the clear stream that 

 winds in the bottom of the pastoral glen, or upon the ferny brae, where the ' long, yellow broom ' 

 and ' blossomed furze unprofitably gay ' shoot up amidst the wild thyme, yarrow, and blue-bell, it is 

 pleasant to listen even to the ' skirl ' of the Corn Bunting, the see-saw song of the Tit, the creaking 

 cry of the Partridge, or the singular crake of the Land Rail ; but independently of circumstances and 

 associations, the song of the Lark inlparts an elasticity to the mind, elevates the spirits, and suspends 

 for a time the gnawing of corroding care. The mellow song of the Merle or Mavis is apt to inspire 

 melancholy, especially if heard in a sequestered valley towards the close of the day, and the feelings 

 which it excites have perhaps as much of a depressing as of a soothing tendency ; but the carol of the 

 Lark, like the lively fife, excites pure cheerfulness, and might with propriety be prescribed as an 

 antidote for dulness. It is not merely music that we look for in the songs of birds, but variety, and 

 the expression of passions, feelings and wants. Were all our warblers to tune their throats according 

 to rule we should become sickly and sentimental, and fill the valleys with sighs and groans from the 

 mountain tops ; but the loud war-whoop of the Eagle, the harsh scream of the Heron, and the 

 croak of the Haven, are antidotes to the bewitching melody of the Blackcap and Nightingale. I 

 have endeavoured to trace a repetition at regular intervals in the strains of the Lark ; but its 

 modulations seem to have no rule. In confinement this bird sings every whit as well as when at 

 large ; and when rapidly perambulating the square bit of faded turf in its cage, it enacts its part with 

 apparently as much delight as when mounting towards ' heaven's gate.' " * These last words of 

 Macgillivray's will remind every reader that the Lark has always been one of the chiefest favourites 

 among poets. The Ettrick Shepherd's fine sympathetic lines and Shelley's noble ode, Wordsworth's 

 address and Southey's sonnet, are only a few witnesses to the fact. 



The male Skylark is rather lai'ger than the female, and this difference is apparent in winter, when 

 the flocks are mixed together in the fields, the cock bird being conspicuous to a practised observer by 

 his greater bulk when on the wing. 



THE SECOND SECTION OF THE PASSERIFORMES, OR PERCHING BIRDS. 



THE MESOMYODI, OR SONGLESS BIRDS. 



The birds which compose the Mesomyodian section of the Perching Birds belong almost entirely 

 to the New World, with the exception of the Pittidce, or Old World Ant-Thrushes. They are 

 separated from the Acromyodian Perching Birds on account of modifications, which take place in 

 the syrinx, " an acromyodian bird being one in which the muscles of the syrinx are attached to the 

 extremities of the bronchial semi-rings, a mesomyodian bird being one in which the muscles of the 

 syrinx join the semi-rings in their middles. " f 



* Macgillivray : "British Birds." Vol. II., p. ]<!'!. t (-Jan-od : Proceedings of the Zodvijicol Society, 1876, p. 507. 

 157 



