Reproduction 45 
turns headward to earth and drops, drops, drops for four, five 
or six seconds in certainly the most thrilling dive ever indulged 
in by living creature. The bird, when within twenty or thirty 
feet of the earth, opens his wings and alights at his starting 
place or, if it be at a distance, starts off nonchalantly to seek 
it as if it were a mere commonplace to pitch several hundred 
feet from out the sky. 
This type of song I have named the ‘‘intermittent’’ and the 
above description is its most frequent and typical rendition. It 
is subject however, to many modifications. Once or twice the 
Lark started to sing shortly after leaving the ground and con- 
tinued to sing, at intervals, on the upward climb. A few times 
the Larks failed to maintain their altitude and dropped lower 
and lower until the final dive was very short in duration. Still, 
it may be noted here, no Lark ever finished a flight song with- 
out the dive however near the earth it might be. This dive is 
reserved as a climax to the song and it seems as necessary a 
requisite as the notes themselves. 
A rarer type of song than the ‘‘intermittent’’ is now and then 
delivered in the air. To it I have given the name ‘‘recitative af 
for the Lark, during its rendition, then beats the air steadily 
with wide, slow strokes (apparently much like the Skylark in 
song), and delivers the while a vigorous, even discourse of notes. 
This song is a steady ‘‘pit-wit, wee-pit, pit-wee, wee-pit’”’. ber? 
““Yecitative’’ is frequently the prelude of the ‘‘intermittent’’ in 
flight song, lasting however but a very few seconds; and, reine 
sionally, it is given at periods other than the beginning, but it 
never occupies so much of the time as the ‘‘intermittent”’. 
If the wind is calm the bird describes large rough circles over- 
head ; if the wind is violent the bird heads into it throughout. 
The climb upward is at a considerable angle and may be fairly 
direct or describe uneven spirals. Most frequently the bird 
drops straight downward, now and then at an angle, as if slip- 
Ping down a steeply inclined roof, but nine times out of ten he 
drops directly onto a favorite song post which he must have been 
able to see at the elevation from which the drop was pists 
I have never seen a female Lark show the slightest indication 
that she was aware of a male in flight song but I have seen males 
On the ground cock their heads sidewise, fully aware, of that 
other bird overhead. But it is probable that the purpose of the 
