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AN OCTOBER ABROAD. 



Several attempts have been made to introduce the 

 lark into this country, but for some reason or other the 

 experiment has never succeeded. The birds have 

 been liberated in Virginia and on Long Island, but do 

 not seem to have ever been heard of afterwards. I 

 see no reason why they should not thrive anywhere 

 along our Atlantic sea-board, and I think the question 

 of introducing them worthy of more thorough and seri- 

 ous attention than has yet been given it, for the lark is 

 really an institution, and as he sings long after the 

 other birds are silent, — as if he had perpetual spring 

 in his heart, — he would be a great acquisition to our 

 fields and meadows. It may be that he cannot stand 

 the extremes of our climate, though the English spar- 

 row thrives well enough. The Smithsonian Institute 

 has received specimens of the sky-lark from Alaska 

 where, no doubt, they find a climate more like the 

 English. 



They have another prominent singer in England, 

 namely the robin, — the original robin redbreast, — a 

 slight, quick, active bird with an orange front and an 

 olive back, and a bright musical warble that I caught 

 by every garden, lane, and hedge-row. It suggests our 

 blue-bird, and has similar habits and manners, though 

 it is a much better musician. 



The European bird that corresponds to our robin is 

 the black-bird of which Tennyson sings : — 



" O Black-bird, sing me something well ; 

 While all the neighbors shoot thee round 



