VALUE OF THE SKYLARK. 
Thy nest which thou canst drop into at will, 
Those quivering' wings composed and music still. 
“ To the last point of vision, and beyond, 
Mount, daring warbler ! that low 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. 
te Leave to the nightingale the shady wood, — 
A privacy 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.” 
There are many that assert that the woodlark is superior, or 
at least equal, to his soaring brother. This, however, is de- 
cidedly not my opinion, and I think my choice is defensible ; 
for whatever diversity of opinion may exist as to the surpassing 
excellence of either bird as a songster, it must be allowed, that 
for power of song, gracefulness of deportment, and shape, and 
hardihood, the skylark 
carries the palm. Be- 
sides the above enume- 
rated good qualities, the 
skylark is a long-lived 
bird, whereas the wood- 
lark, without the most 
scrupulous care and at- 
tention, seldom lives lon- 
ger thanfive or six years ; 
a fact alone sufficient to 
turn the balance in fa- 
vour of the skylark, even 
allowing that in other respects the rivals are exactly matched ; 
for it must be borne in mind (especially by boys who have an 
inclination for lark breeding) that a really good bird of this 
species cannot be purchased for at least a guinea. Indeed, at 
the present time, I know of a poor fellow, a French-polisher, 
in Hare-street, Bethnal- green, who refuses to take eight pounds 
for his skylark. The lover of lark-music need not, however, 
penetrate the nasty locality above alluded to, he need only to 
stroll down Fleet-street in the summer season, any time of the 
day, — from three in the morning till dusk in the evening' — and 
there, hung above the shop of a shell-fishmonger, he will hear 
a lark, the glory of whose song triumphs above the everlasting 
