Song Birds and Water Fowl 



very much like mice, and apparently hiding 

 among the little irregularities of the ground. 

 Occasionally, when I came unexpectedly near, 

 the whole flock would whirl up a little distance 

 in the air, and, with a lively and musical chic- 

 a-chic-a-chic-a, fly to a remote spot, and resume 

 active life on the ground. At other times, as 

 if in a spasm of sudden joy, they would mount 

 to a great height, circle about with the swift- 

 ness and abandon of a bevy of swallows, and 

 then return, like a boomerang, almost to the 

 very spot from which they rose. They are 

 easily detected, as they run about over the hard 

 snow; but, on the bare ground, their color 

 blends so perfectly with that of the soil, that 

 it is extremely difficult to find them, unless 

 their occasional burst of tinkling notes reveals 

 them. Some weeks after my first visit, I found 

 the flock in the same field as before, which, 

 possibly, has been their base of supplies through 

 the winter. 



The shore lark has a double claim upon our 

 interest, by reason of its own attractive person- 

 ality, and as being the only representative 

 among us of the famous lark family of Europe, 

 immortalized especially by the ecstatic motions 

 and gushing song of the field lark — Alauda 

 iG8 



