THE LARK 253 



This wonderful power of flight serves him and his tribe 

 well, when the great autumn migration takes place, about 

 which I must say something here. 



A great many Skylarks live in England all the year 

 round. But at the close of summer — during October and 

 November, in particular — it is estimated that " millions of 

 these birds" pour across the North Sea into our eastern 

 counties. Large numbers, not content with having tra- 

 velled thus far, move on, seeking still more southerly 

 winter feeding-grounds. Day after day the great cloud of 

 birds passes over. All through the night, without inter- 

 mission, the winged host sweeps on — from Russian plains 

 and Jutland sand-dunes and Norwegian fjelds, led by some 

 strange instinct which drives them westward from their 

 summer homes. 



The 'watchers of the skies' who tend our East Coast 

 lighthouses report that more Larks go by than any other 

 bird. Another place which birds pass over in immense 

 numbers is Heligoland, an island off the coast of Germany. 

 Here, it is recorded, no less than fifteen thousand Larks 

 were once caught in a single night. 



They are captured for food. It is said that the 

 enormous number of four hundred thousand Larks is 

 supplied annually to the London markets. Brighton 

 comes second in its demand. Just think of the awful 

 slaughter of beautiful singers which those figures repre- 

 sent ! Let us hope that the day is not far distant when 

 it will be thought as horrid a custom to kill a Skylark 

 for the sake of the tiny bit of meat it yields as it would 

 be to feast, like the old Roman gourmands, on night- 

 ingales' tongues. When we know that the song from 

 the throat of a single Lark can fill a whole landscape 

 with joy fullest music, it is nothing but an act of 



