CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 



" Ethereal minstrel ! pilgrim of the sky ! 



Dost thou despise the earth, where cares abound? 

 Or, while thy wings aspire, are heart and eye 



Both with thy nest, upon the dewy ground ? 

 Thy nest, which thou canst drop into at will, 

 Those quivering wings composed, that music still. 



" To the last point of vision, raid beyond, 



.Mount, daring warbler! That love-prompted strain — 



'Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond — 

 Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain ! 



Yet might'st thou seem, proud privilege, to sing 



All independent of the leafv snrinsr. 



" Leave to the nightingale the shady wood — 



A privacy of glorious light is thine. 

 Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood 



Of harmony with rajjture more divine. 

 Type of the wise, who soar — but never roam, 

 True to the kindred points of heaven and homo." 



175 



THE CUESTLD LARK. 



The Crested Lark — Alouctle Cochcvis of the Frencli — A. crisfafa, is six and three-quarter 

 inches long; brown above and pale yellow beneath. The crest of a few elongated feathers point- 

 ing backward, is reddish-brown. It visits Northern Europe in summer, is sedentary in Southern 

 Europe, and is common in Northern Africa. It feeds on worms and grain, ami may be often seen 

 on the roads near Paris picking among the manure, and flying at the approach of a traveler. 



The Wood-Lark — Alouette lulu of the French — A. arborea, has a slight crest, is over six 

 inches long, wood-brown above, pale yellowish-brown beneath. Its song is greatly admired, and 

 is often poured forth at evening, as if iu rivalry of the nightingale. 



" What time the timorous hare trips forth to feed. 

 When the scared owl skims round the grassy mead, 

 Then high in air, and poised upon its wings, 

 Unseen the soft-enamored wood-lark sings." 



Blyth says: "In hot summer nights wood-larks soar to a prodigious height, and hang singing in 

 the air." Bechstein says: "The wood-lark not only excels all other larks in the beauty of its 

 song, but, in my opinion, surpasses in this respect all German birds whatever, except the chaffinch 

 and the nightingale. Its tones are flute-like, and the varying phrases of its song have all a mel- 

 ancholy and tender expression. It sings either perched on the top of a tree, or flies upward 

 almost beyond the reach of sight, and remains poised on its outstretched wings, often warbling 

 for an hour together. In confinement it always sings on its perch." 



