THE SKYLARK. 



{Alanda arvensis.) 



The Laverock sings a bonnie lay above the Scottish heather ; 



It sprinkles down from far away like light and love together; 

 He drops the golden notes to greet his brooding mate, his dearie; 



I only know one song more sweet, — the vespers of the veery. 



— Henry Van Dyke, "The Veery." 



The Skylark is most 'truthfully the 

 bird of the people in European countries. 

 It is loved for its songs, its liveliness, its 

 harmless habits, and, because it inhabits 

 those regions cultivated by man and lives 

 in contentment with him. It cares not 

 for the bleak wastes, but let man turn 

 "the furrow on the waste, and replace the 

 heath, the moss, and the rush, by a more 

 kindly vegetation, then the Lark is sure 

 to come with its song of gratitude, to 

 reveillie him to the field betimes, and 

 cheer his labours the live-long day." 



The Skylark, too, is par excellence the 

 bird of the poets and of many writers of 

 prose. Poets of every grade and merit 

 have found inspiration in its song. No 

 bird has appeared more often in litera- 

 ture, especially that of the Old World; 

 and some of the passages of which the 

 Skylark is the theme, are classics which 

 will endure to the end of time. He who 

 can listen to its lithesome song and not 

 be enraptured with the wonderful com- 

 pass and- freedom of the melody, is indeed 

 dumb and emotionless. The Skylark 

 inspired Wordsworth to write : 



Up with me ! up with me into the clouds ! 



For thy song, Lark, is strong; 

 Up with me, up with me into the clouds ! 



Singing, singing. 

 With clouds and sky about thee ringing, 



Lift me, guide me till I find 

 That spot which seems so to thy mind ! 



These lines from Wordsworth's poem 

 call to mind the habits of the Skylark 

 when it gives utterance to its wonderful 

 song. It is the song of the male. "Its 

 type is the grass, where the bird makes 

 its home, abounding, multitudinuous, the 

 notes nearly all alike and all in the same 

 key, but rapid, swarming, prodigal, show- 

 ering down as thick and fast as drops of 

 rain in a summer shower." 



Mr. Henry Seebohm gives the follow- 

 ing excellent account of the habits of the 

 Skylark during the breeding season. He 

 says : "At this season of the year the 

 Skylark's song is particularly loud and 

 charming. A few birds will often be 

 tempted to sing by an unusually mild day 

 in winter, but the song is seldom fully 

 resumed before March. The manner in 

 which the Skylark sings, in the full view 

 of all observers, is probably the secret of 

 the bird's popularity. Who has not seen 

 this somber little bird rise from the mea- 

 dow grass or the heath, and has not 

 watched its soaring flight as upward and 

 upward it goes until it appears but a 

 speck or is entirely lost in the sky? He 

 bounds up from, the cover on fluttering 

 wings and with outstretched tail, rising a 

 little way in silence, then, bursting into 

 song, he pursues his upward course. At 

 first the wings are beaten very rapidly, 

 in a fluttering way ; but when the bird 

 gets higher the movements are more reg- 

 ular. Sometimes it rises directly upward, 

 but very often goes far away from the 

 place of its first ascent, sailing over the 

 fields, but in an ever-rising course. When 

 the zenith of its flight is reached it will 

 sometimes fly about for a short time, 

 singing : but more usually it comes down 

 again directly. The song is continued 

 until the ground is neared, when the bird 

 usually drops like a stone, or flutters off 

 over the grass ere seeking cover. These 

 aerial movements are not essential to the 

 bird's song; it will sing quite as sweetly 

 when perched on a clod of earth or on 

 the ground, and it often warbles a few 

 notes when running about amongst the 

 grass or over the fallows. The height 

 of the song flights also varies consider- 

 ably. Sometimes the bird may be seen 

 fluttering at a moderate height, singing 



