44 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Lowis 
‘‘quaint ditty’’, Goss ‘‘twittering notes’’, Hatch ‘‘inexpressible’’ 
and Allen ‘‘like someone climbing over a wire fence’’. 
The song is indeed hard to put into words though it is far 
from ‘‘inexpressible’’. Before giving the actual song however, 
the method of delivery should first be outlined. 
Most of the singing, by far, is done from a clod or sign-post 
stage (the greatest height being a sample apartment on the area 
at Evanston), and breeding areas were rarely without a Lark 
in this performance. This was especially true after sundown, 
as Seton describes, but the first morning notes were delivered 
from the air contrary to his observation that they are from the 
ground. These surface songs are merely repetitions of the flight 
deliveries yet frequently they are not so full nor so complete. 
The urge to the flight song came frequently after the male 
had succeeded in eliminating an intruding Lark from his terri- 
tory and almost invariably, during the period of incubation, the 
male would go into flight song upon the approach of a human 
intruder. Or, if not at the first approach, he could be forced 
to do so by driving him about his territory for a time. He begins 
the ascent by a deliberate climb, step by step, by flutters and 
pauses, to his stage in the sky. This climb is deliberate, pur- 
poseful, its meaning cannot be misconstrued, though the bird 
makes no sound, as a rule, as he ascends. When satisfied with 
the altitude, he opens wide both wings and tail and as he sails 
he sings, at first deliberately, then faster and faster until the 
ending is a jumble of trills. The song may be written as, ‘‘pit- 
wit, pit-wit, pittle wittle, little, little, leeee’’. 
Each song is two seconds or less in duration and between each 
the Lark ascends with from three to four flutters of four wing- 
beats with a pause of one or two beats of time between each, 
before spreading out for the next delivery. The actual singing 
— pies less of the Lark’s time than the efforts of the bird to 
maintain the altitude, but this is more than compensated for by 
the many minutes the Lark remains in the air. One or two 
record flights lasted more than five minutes. 
If appearances do not deceive, the Lark just maintains his 
altitude after the singing begins and neither appreciably rises 
nor sinks thereafter until the finish, in the majority of cases. 
The finish of the flight song is the most spectacular event of 
all. When the song is ended the bird suddenly closes his wings, 
