CAGE AND SINGUNCG BIRDS. 
59 
I THE SKYLARK, 
I Field lark, or laverock, as the Scotch call it, is a permanent 
I resident on the British islands, over which it is so generally 
distributed, that there is hardly a locality, however bleak 
and barren, in which it may not be seen soaring- spirally 
{ upward in the sunshine, and heard singing that blythsome 
song' which it is so inspiriting and delightful to hear. This 
^ fine songster must rather be called a handsome than a 
beautiful bird; he has no gaudy colours to attract the 
eye, but his stout, well-proportioned form is clothed in a 
suit of brown and gray and dusky white; the crest of 
feathers on his head, which he can erect or depress at 
pleasure, give him a brisk and somewhat jaunty appearance, 
and his quick restless eye is full of fire and animation, if not 
dimmed by the loss of health and spirits, resulting from a 
too close confinement, and the want of proper food. 
The nest of the skylark, the bird which soars and sings 
so far up in the heavens, is always built on the ground, and 
Vfiie strains which he pours forth so rapturously are meant 
l^or the ears of his little brown mate there, sitting among the 
long grass or the green corn stalks, as quiet and sedate as if 
she heard not the song, cared not for the stongster. But 
she does both hear and care, and her speckled breast throbs 
with pleasure as the shower of melody is rained down all 
around her, till every blade of grass, and leaf, and swelling 
ear, seem to flutter and dance to the joyous music. But 
hush ! the song is ended, and the fond bird descends, not as 
he went up, slowly, and with a circular motion, but quick, 
and straight as an arrow, or a stone let fall from an unseen 
hand ; and he drops, where ? right upon the threshold of 
his loosely woven nest, in the hollow where there are some 
four or five gray and brown freckled eggs, on which he 
means to sit while his mate goes forth to stretch her wings 
and cram[)ed legs, and take her meal of young ants, or ants* 
eggs, or caterpillars, or any small seeds or insects that may 
come in her way. 
Young- larks must be taken from the nest before they are 
fully fledged, or it will be a difficult matter to catch them; 
they may be fed on the paste made with bread and milk, 
with a little poppy or rape-seed mixed; but their natural 
iiet, ants' eggs, if they can be procurec^ is best. The 
