SKYLARK. 
325 
attained its wishcd-for elevation, and while remain- 
ing poised in the air, so high as frequently to be 
known only by its song faintly heard. It frequently 
also continues its song in a gradual descent, but 
upon any alarm it is suddenly stopped, the wings 
closed, and it falls as it were a stone to the ground 
in a line often very slightly slanting. When 
the duties of incubation have passed, the birds 
begin to congregate, and by the commencement 
of the winter months, flocks here assemble in the 
stubble and fallow fields, their melody gone for a 
time, their only note being a short chirrup when 
raised or disturbed. When severe weather ad- 
vances, they retire to the lowest grounds, and to 
the vicinity of the sea shore, and it is immediately 
previous to or about this time, that the partial 
movements and migrations take place, and we 
receive a compensation for what we lose in flocks 
from countries lying more northerly than our 
own. The Skylark never perches on trees, but 
is entirely terrestrial, walking and running with 
facility and swiftness, and never hopping in the 
manner of the finches. On the approach of 
danger it squats in any irregularity, hole, or foot 
print in the ground, and before a pointer will 
thus continue until approached within a yard. 
They also bask in the sun, and dust themselves 
like the rasores, and we have frequently seen 
the basking places strewed with feathers, and re- 
sembling those of a covey of partridges. The 
nest is placed on the ground, sometimes close 
to some hillock, and generally more or less 
