FTXCnES. 
157 
is most numerous in Devonshire. The melodious 
richness of its song is scarcely equalled by any of 
the warblers ; and far surpasses in softness and 
melody the more varied song of the Skylark. 
The Skylark {Alauda arvensis) is spread very gene- 
rally over Europe, different parts of Asia, and the 
northern part of Africa. The localities it most 
delights in are extensive arable lands and open 
meadows ; but in Ireland, Mr. Thompson says, it is 
equally well pleased with the wild mountain pasture. 
At times this favourite songster will sing while at 
rest in a clod of earth, but most commonly it sends 
forth its sweet song while floating in the boundless 
space above ; it rises in a spiral manner on quivering 
vsdngs, trilling forth its animated and varied lay, 
mounting up higher and higher, until it seems to the 
beholder a mere speck in the clear blue firmament of 
heaven. It descends in an oblique manner, and at 
first gradually, but when it arrives within twenty or 
thirty yards of the ground, it ceases its strain, and 
then sweeps down suddenly to join its mate. 
The Skylark breeds in the month of April, or early 
in May, forming its uiest of the stalks of vegetables 
and dried grasses, and lining it with fine fibres, upon 
the ground, amongst corn or other herbage. The 
eggs are of a greenish white, spotted with brown: 
two broods are reared annually, the second in July or 
August. The common flight of this bird is easy 
and undidating, and on the ground it trips along 
with great facility, its feet, and especially the elon- 
gated slender hind-cla\^^, expressly adapting it for the 
grassy surface of the field. It lives for the most 
