76 TREATISE ON 



seven inches, — ^bill very pale, but dingy yellowish- 

 brown, — ^head, neck, back, wings, and tail, umber- 

 brown ; but each feather is edged with pale wood- 

 brown, inclining to pale yellowish-grey, — edges of 

 the wings, and outer feathers of the tail, snow- 

 white, — tlu'oat yellowish-white, marked in streaks 

 with pale yellowish-brown, inclining to pale hair- 

 brown, — breast, and lower parts, dingy greyish- 

 white, — ^legs and feet pale yellowish-brown, — 

 claws black, — ^hind claw very long : this last is a 

 distinguishing mark of the lark genus. When 

 alarmed, they raise the feathers on the top of the 

 head, so as to form a kind of crest. 



Song, 



Of all song-birds, the lark is perhaps the most 

 cheerful and sprightly. His natural song, though 

 possessed of but little variety, seems endless, from 

 the manner in which he renews it. He will often 

 continue an hour upon wing, mounting till he is 

 almost lost among the clouds, and then hovering, 

 generally over the nest, chaunting all the time : He 

 at last begins gradually to descend, warbling, as 

 it were, with renewed energy as he approaches 

 his mate. Wlien about twelve or fifteen yards 



