4 Wild Life in a Southern County. 
alone discourses sweet music which is lost in the blue 
dome overhead. 
At that time they seem to feed only a few 
minutes consecutively, and then, as if seized with an 
uncontrollable impulse, rush up into the air to deliver 
a brief song, descend, and repeat the process for 
hours. They have a way, too, of rising but six or 
eight yards above the earth, spreading the wings out 
and keeping them nearly still, floating slowly forward, 
all the while uttering one sweet note softly. The 
sward by the roadside appears to have a special 
attraction for them ; they constantly come over from 
the arable fields, alight there, and presently return. 
In the early spring, when love-making is in full 
progress, the cornfields where the young green blades 
are just showing, become the scene of the most 
amusing rivalry. Far as the eye can see across the 
ground it seems alive with larks—chasing each other 
to and fro, round and round, with excited calls, flying 
close to the surface, continually alighting, and spring- 
ing up again. A gleam of sunshine and a warm 
south wind bring forth these merry antics. So like 
in general hue is the lark to the lumps of brown 
earth that even at a few paces it is difficult to dis- 
tinguish her. Some seem always to remain in the 
meadows ; but the majority frequent the arable land, 
and especially the cornfields on the slopes of the 
downs, where they may be found in such numbers as 
rival or perhaps exceed those of any other bird. 
