THE LARK IN AUTUMN. 



local races of allied type occur often in 

 nature ; they are the first beginnings out 

 of which new kinds may in time be de- 

 veloped by natural selection. For instance, 

 each important river of Britain has its own 

 breed of salmon, to be recognized at sight 

 so they say by the experienced fly- 

 fisher. Thus, again, in the matter of 

 skylarks, our English type differs slightly 

 in shape and hue from the Continental 

 just about as much as your John Bull 

 differs from a Frenchman, or a German. 

 As we approach the Mediterranean, a still 

 paler and lighter form begins to take the 

 place of the northern bird, and has been 

 honoured (without due reason, I should 

 think) with a separate Latin name, as a 

 distinct species. It stands to our own 

 ruddy-brown English skylark in something 

 the same relation as the Moor or the 

 Syrian stands to the Western European. 

 This pale form, once more, straggles through 

 Anatolia and across Central Asia ; but 

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