174 
VEETEBRATA. 
and the bird changes its attitude rapidly in proportion to the whole quantity of flight, the song is 
partially suppressed, and it swells as the spiral widens, and sinks as it contracts ; so that, though 
the notes may be the same, it is only w'hen the lark sings poised at the same height that it sings 
in a uniform key. It gives a swelling song as it ascends, and a sinking one as it comes down ; 
and even if it take but one w'heel in the air, as that wheel always includes an ascent or a descent, 
it varies the pitch of the song. 
"The song of the lark, besides being a most accessible and delightful subject for common ob- 
servation, is a very curious one for the physiologist. Every one in the least conversant with the 
structure of birds must be aware that, with them, the organs of intonation and modulation are 
imvard^ deriving little assistance from the tongue, and none, or next to none, from the mandibles 
of the bill. The windpipe is the musical organ, and is often very curiously formed. Birds re- 
quire that organ less for breathing than other animals having a windpipe and lungs, because of 
the air-cells and breathing-tubes with which all parts of their bodies — even their bones — are fur- 
nished. But those diffused breathing-organs must act with least freedom when the bird is mak- 
ing the greatest efforts in motion — that is, when ascending or descending ; and in proportion as 
they cease to act, the trachea is the more required for the purposes of breathing. The sky-lark 
thus converts the atmosphere into a musical instrument of many stops, and so produces an exceed- 
ingly wild and varied song — a song which is perhaps not equal, either in power or compass, in 
the single stave, to that of many of the warblers, but one which is more varied in the whole suc- 
cession. All birds that sing ascending or descending have similar power, but the sky-lark has it 
in a degree superior to every other." 
Main says : " No bird sings with more method : there is an overture performed, vivace cres- 
cendo, while the singer ascends ; when at the full height, the song becomes moderato, and dis- 
tinctly divided into short passages, each repeated three or four times over, like a fantasia, in the 
same key and tune. If there be any wind, he rises perpendicularly by bounds, and afterward 
poises himself with breast opposed to it. If calm, he ascends in spiral circles ; in horizontal cir- 
cles during the principal part of his song, and zigzagly downward during the performance of the 
finale. Sometimes, after descending about half way, he ceases to sing, and drops wnth the ve- 
locity of an arrow to the ground. Those acquainted with the song of the sky-lark can tell, with- 
out looking at them, whether the birds be ascending or stationary in the air, or on their descent, 
so different is the style of the song in each case. In the first, there is an expression of ardent 
impatience ; in the second, an andante composure, in which rests of a bar at a time frequently 
occur ; and in the last, a graduated sinking of the strains, often touching the subdominant before 
the final close. The time and number of the notes often correspond with the vibration of the 
wings ; and though they sometimes sing while on the ground, as they are seen to do in cages, 
their whole frame seems to be agitated by their musical efforts." I 
The strong attachment of this species to their young has been the subject of remark by many 
naturalists : Mr. Blyth records that "some mowers actually shaved off the upper part of a nest 
of the sky-lark without injuring the female which was sitting on her young ; still she did not fly 
away, and the mowers levelled the grass all around her without her taking further notice of their 
proceedings. A young friend of mine, son of the owner of the crop, witnessed this, and about an 
hour afterward went to see if she was safe, when, to his great surprise, he found that she had act- 
ually constructed a dome of dry grass over the nest during the interval, leaving an aperture on 
one side for ingress and egress, thus endeavoring to secure a continuance of the shelter previously 
supplied by the long grass." 
To no bird, perhaps not even the nightingale, have the English poets paid such frequent hom- 
age as to the sky-lark ; from Chaucer downward, there is scarcely one of them who has not repaid 
the ecstatic music of that "bard of the blushing dawn" — the "herald of the morn," as Shakspeare 
hath it — with a strain as full of gladness and melody ; and not from the poets only has it received 
these tributes of admiration : grave divines, such as Jeremy Taylor and Bishop Hall, have made 
it the theme of their high discourse ; the former says that " it did rise and sing as if it had learned 
music and motion from an angel." Wordsworth's lines, though often quoted, are so descriptive, 
and yet so poetical, that we cannot omit them : 
