312 THE CHESTED LARK. 



To no bird, except the Nightingale, have the English poets 

 paid such homage as to the Skylark ; from Chaucer downwards, 

 there is scarcely one of them who has not repaid the ecstatic 

 music of that " Bard of the blushing dawn," with a strain as full 

 of gladness and melody ; and not from the poets only has it re- 

 ceived these tributes of admiration : grave divines, such as JEREMY 

 TAYLOR and BISHOP HALL, have made it the theme of their high 

 discourse j the former says that " it did rise and sing as if it had 

 learned music and motion from an angel." We wish that the 

 nature of our work permitted us to quote a few of the most 

 beautiful meeds of song offered to this most blithesome of song- 

 sters. As it is, we must be content with one only, and it shall 

 be WORDSWORTH'S : 



" 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, and 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 leafy spring. 



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 rapture more divine. 

 Type of the wise, who soar but never roam, 

 True to the kindred points of heaven and home." 



127. THE CRESTED LARK. 



Alauda Cristata, LIN. Cochevis ou grosse Alouette Huppe'e, BUF. Die 

 Hauben Lerche, BECH. 



Description. This bird is about the size of the Skylark, 

 though stouter, and resembles it also in plumage, except that 

 it is somewhat lighter in colour. It is seven inches in length; 

 the beak is lead coloured, tipped with horn brown ; the iris 

 dark brown ; the feet one inch high, and yellowish ash grey. 

 The head, cheeks, top of the neck, and upper part of the back, 

 are reddish grey ; all the feathers being blackish brown in the 

 middle. From the nostrils to the ears, runs a reddish white 

 stripe, hardly discernible over the eyes, but broader behind. 



