CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 
175 
" Ethereal minstrel ! pilgrim of the sky ! 
Dost thou despise the earth, where cares abound ? 
Or, while thy wings aspire, are heart and eye 
Both with thy nest, upon the dewy ground ? 
Thy nest, which thou canst drop into at will, 
Those quivering wings composed, that music still. 
" To the last point of vision, and beyond. 
Mount, daring warbler ! That love-prompted strain — 
'Twixt thee and thine a never-failing bond — 
Thrills not the less the bosom of the plain ! 
Yet might'st thou seem, proud privilege, to sing 
All independent of the leafy spring. 
" Leave to the nightingale the shady wood — 
A pi'ivacy of glorious light is thine, 
Whence thou dost pour upon the world a flood 
Of harmony with rapture more divine. 
Type of the wise, who soar — but never roam. 
True to the kindred points of heaven and home." 
THE CRESTED LARK. 
The Crested Lark — Alouefte Cochevis of the French — A. cristata, is six and three-quarter 
I inches long; brown above and pale yellow beneath. The crest of a few elongated feathers point- 
\ ing backward, is reddish-brown. It visits Northern Europe in summer, is sedentary in Southern 
[ Europe, and is common in Northern Africa. It feeds on worms and grain, and may be often seen 
on the roads near Paris picking among the manure, and flying at the approach of a traveler. 
The Wood-Lark — Alouette lulu of the French — A. arhorea, has a slight crest, is over six 
inches long, wood-brown above, pale yellowish-brown beneath. Its song is greatly admired, and 
is often poured forth at evening, as if in rivalry of the nightingale. 
" What time the timorous hare trips forth to feed, 
When the scared owl skims round the grassy mead, 
Then high in air, and poised upon its wings, ^^-^ 
Unseen the soft-enamored wood-lark sings." 
Blyth says: "In hot summer nights wood-larks soar to a prodigious height, and hang singing in 
the air." Bechstein says : " The wood-lark not only excels all other larks in the beauty of its 
song, but, in my opinion, surpasses in this respect all German birds whatever, except the chaffinch 
and the nightingale. Its tones are flute-like, and the varying phrases of its song have all a mel- 
ancholy and tender expression. It sings either perched on the top of a tree, or flies upward 
almost beyond the reach of sight, and remains poised on its outstretched wings, often warbling 
for an hour together. In confinement it always sings on its perch." 
