78 NATURAL HISTORY 



fer more in their notes, and that constantly, 

 than those two that I am acquainted with ; 

 for the one has a joyous, easy, laughing 

 note ; the other a harsh loud chirp. The 

 former is every way larger, and three quar- 

 ters of an inch longer, and weighs two 

 drams and a half ; while the latter weighs 

 but two : so the songster is one-fifth heavier 

 than the chirper. The chirper (being the! 

 first Summer-bird of passage that is heard, 

 the wryneck sometimes excepted) begins 

 his two notes in the middle of March, and 

 continues them through the Spring and 

 Summer till the end of August, as appears 

 by my journals. The legs of the larger of 

 these two are flesh-coloured ; of the less, 

 black. 



The grasshopper-lark began his sibilous 

 note in my fields last Saturday. Nothing 

 can be more amusing than the whisper of 

 this little bird, which seems to be close by, 

 though at an hundred yards distance ; and, 

 when close at your ear, is scarce any louder 

 than when a great way off. Had I not 

 been a little acquainted with insects, and 



