148 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



fry in each stream the same summer, showing clearly that 

 the trout begins to spawn earlier in the stream of variable 

 temperature, because it takes longer to hatch their ova 

 than it does in the stream of even temperature, where, 

 though their neighbours give them so much start, yet 

 they finish the race on equal terms. 



Open the book of Nature where we will, it teems with 

 wonderful instances of creative wisdom, if we will but take 

 the trouble to read it, and consider for a moment the 

 marvellous accuracy with which even the smallest details 

 of the vast plan have been worked out. Yet how many 

 thousands, yea, hundreds of thousands of people live and 

 die without even a rudimentary knowledge of the most 

 commonplace things they see and hear, though these have 

 doubtless been called forth partly for the benefit, comfort, 

 and enjoyment of man, whose lack of understanding alone 

 renders him incapable of duly appreciating them. It was 

 Shakespeare's knowledge and love of nature that made him 

 say, as no other man could have said 



". . . . Our life, exempt from public haunt, 

 Finds tongues in trees, books in running brooks, 

 Sermons in stones, and good in everything." 



THE WOODLARK. 



THE nest of this bird is situated on the ground, usually 

 well concealed beneath a tuft of grass or low plant, and 

 is composed of grass, bents, moss, and hairs, the coarser 

 material used on the outside and the finer to line the 

 interior. The eggs are four or five in number, of a lighter 

 ground colour than the Skylark's eggs, thickly speckled 

 with reddish-brown, the spots sometimes, but rarely, 

 forming a zone at the larger end. 



