BIRDS. 201 
caught in great quantities in winter, and are considered a 
delicate food amongst our best dishes. It is a melancholy 
observation, than man should feed upon, and indulge his 
sense of taste with those very birds who have so often de- 
lighted his sense of hearing with their songs, when they 
usher to the gladdened creation the return of their best 
friend, the sun. The instinctive warmth of attachment 
which the female Skylark bears towards her own species, 
even when not her nestling is remarkable. " In the month 
of May," says Buffon, " a young hen bird was brought to 
me, which was not able to feed without assistance. I caused 
her to be reared ; and she was hardly fledged, when I re- 
ceived from another place, a nest of three or four un- 
fledged larks. She took a strong liking to these new 
comers, which were but little younger than herself; she 
tended them night and day, cherished them beneath her 
wings, and fed them with her bill. Nothing could inter- 
rupt her tender offices. If the young ones were torn 
from her she flew to them as soon as they were liberated, 
and would not think of effecting her own escape, which 
she might have done a hundred times. Her affection grew 
upon her; she neglected food and drink; she at length 
required the same support as her adopted offspring, and 
expired at last, consumed with maternal solicitude. None 
of the young ones long survived her. They died one 
after another ; so essential were her cares, which were 
equally tender and judicious." 
The Lark mounts almost perpendicularly, and by suc- 
cessive springs, into the air ; where it hovers at a vast 
height. Its descent is in an oblique direction, unless 
threatened by some ravenous bird of prey, or attracted 
by its mate ; when it drops to the ground like a stone. 
On its first leaving the earth, its notes are feeble and in- 
terrupted ; but, as it rises, these gradually swell to their 
full tone. As the Lark's flight is always at sun-rise, there 
is something in the scenery that renders the music of the 
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