174 VEliTEBRATA. 



aiul till' binl i-lianj,'cs its attitude rapidly in proportion to the whole .juaiitity of flight, the song i.s 

 partially suppressed, and it swells as the spiral widens, and sinks as it contracts; so that, thougli 

 the notes may he the same, it is only wiun the l.uk sings poised at the same height that it sings 

 in a niiiforMi kev. It gives a swelling song as it ascenils, and a sinking one as it comes down; 

 and even if it take hut one wheel in the air, as tliat wheel always includes an ascent or a descent, 

 it varies the piteh of the song. 



"The song of the lark, besides being a most accessible and delightful subject for common ob- 

 servation, is a very curious one for the physiologist. Every one in the least conversant with the 

 structure of birds must be aware that, with them, the organs of intonation and modulation are 

 inward, deriving little assistance from the tongue, and none, or next to none, from the mandibles 

 of the bill. The windpipe is the musical organ, and is often very curiously formed. Birds re- 

 quire that organ less for breathing than other animals having a windpipe and lungs, because of 

 the air-cells and breathing-tubes with which all parts of their bodies — even their bones — are fur- 

 nished. But those diffused breathing-organs must act with least freedom when the bird is mak- 

 ing the greatest efforts in motion — that is, when ascending or descending; and in proportion as 

 they cease to act, the trachea is th.e more required for the purposes of breathing. The sky-lark 

 thus converts the atmosphere into a musical instrument of many stops, and so produces an exceed- 

 ingly wild and varied song — a song which is perhaps not equal, either in power or compass, in 

 the single stave, to that of many of the warblers, but one which is more varied in the whole suc- 

 cession. All birds that sing ascending or descending have similar power, but the sky-lark has it 

 in a degree superior to every other." 



Main savs : " No bird sings with more method : there is an overture performed, vivace cres- 

 cendo, w^hile the singer ascends ; when at the full height, the song becomes moderato, and dis- 

 tinctly divided into short passages, each repeated three or four times over, like a fantasia, in the 

 same key and tune. If there be any wind, he rises perpendicularly by bounds, and afterward 

 poises himself with breast opposed to it. If calm, he ascends in spiral circles; in horizontal cir- 

 cles during the principal part of his song, and zigzagly downward during the performance of the 

 finale. Sometimes, after descending about half way, he ceases to sing, and drops with the ve- 

 locity of an arrow to the ground. Those acquainted with the song of the sky-lark can tell, with- 

 out looking at them, whether the birds be ascending or stationary in the air, or on their descent, 

 so different is the style of the song in each case. In the first, there is an expression of ardent 

 impatience; in the second, an andante composure, in which rests of a bar at a time frequently 

 occur ; and in the last, a graduated sinking of the strains, often touching the subdominant before 

 the final close. The time and number of the notes often correspond with the vibration of the 

 wino-s; and thouo-h thev sometimes sing while on the ground, as they are seen to do in cages, 

 their whole frame seems to be agitated by their musical efforts." 



The strong attachment of this species to their young has been the subject of remark by many 

 naturalists : Mr. Blyth records that "some mowers actually shaved oft" the upper part of a nest 

 of the sky-lark without injuring the female which was sitting on her young; still she did not fly 

 away, and the mowers levelled the grass all around her without her taking further notice of their 

 proceedings. A young friend of mine, son of the owner of the crop, witnessed this, and about an 

 hour afterward went to see if she was safe, when, to his great surprise, he found that she had act- 

 ually constructed a dome of dry grass over the nest during the interval, leaving an aperture on 

 one side for ingress and egress, thus endeavoring to secure a continuance of the shelter previously 

 supplied by the long grass." 



To no bird, perhaps not even the nightingale, have the English poets paid such frequent hom- 

 age as to the skv-lark; from Chaucer downward, there is scarcely one of them who has not repaid 

 the ecstatic music of that "bard of the blushing dawn" — the "herald of the morn," as Shakspeare 

 hath it — with a strain as full of gladness and melody ; and not from the poets only has it received 

 these tributes of admiration : grave divines, such as Jeremy Taylor and Bishop Hall, have made 

 it the theme of their high discourse ; the former says that " it did rise and sing as if it had learned 

 music and motion from an angel." Wordsworth's lines, though often quoted, are so descriptive, 

 and yet so poetical, that we cannot omit them : 



