MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



merges in the Himalayas, Japan, and China 

 into a russet mountain type, which is also 

 regarded by systematic naturalists as a 

 distinct species. The truth is, however, 

 when you take any large area of the world 

 together, it is impossible to draw distinct 

 lines anywhere between one animal or plant 

 and another. Kind melts into kind for 

 the most part by imperceptible stages. 



Even in the dreariest months our skylark 

 still sings to us, at rarer intervals, on bright 

 frosty mornings. He hovers over the grass 

 when it sparkles and scintillates with crystal 

 filigree. His music it is that so endears 

 him to all of us. He is busy at work now, 

 I see, in the stubble of the corn-fields, where, 

 a useful ally of the agricultural interest, he 

 picks out the seeds of black bindweed and 

 corn-poppy not unmixed, it is true, with 

 occasional grains of wheat or barley. But 

 he does far more good than harm, for all 

 that. Natives and foreigners live amicably 

 side by side, though they do not breed 

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