SSL? I,AKK 
14 
•treasures, for wnose delight perhaps he has been warbling all 
the while his loudest and sweetest notes, end has kept them 
all along in his sight, slanting at the end for a greater or 
less distance, probably as danger ma} 7 or may not appear to 
he nigh, he drops with half-closed and unmoved wings—and 
is at home. 
‘A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, 
Which, search where you will, you’ll ne’er meet with elsewhere. 
This flight frequently occupies nearly ten minutes; sometimes, 
it is said, as much as an hour, during which time both throat 
and wings seem taxed to the utmost, hut yet apparently 
without fatigue of either, even though the loftiest regions of 
the ‘thin air’ have been ascended to and traversed. 
In rising up, the Lark turns towards the wind, if any be 
blowing; but this is only what might naturally he expected; 
and in settling down, the tail is seen to he expanded. At 
first rising, the flight is fluttering and irregular, then a few 
reaches forward are made, upwards or in a slanting direction, 
and then in curves, or parts of circles, the bird ascends, and 
when at a high elevation wheels in circles, singing all the 
while. In the winter season, when an upward soaring is 
scarcely attempted, the flight is slightly undulated, performed 
by a few flappings of the wings and then a further progress, 
either in the way of a short hovering about or a wheeling 
here and there, before the ground is again settled on, which 
it is rather abruptly at the close. 
Their food consists of grain, grasses, and seeds, and also 
of insects, caterpillars, snails, and worms; and they may often 
he seen running into little pools of water, probably in search 
of any insects that may happen to be there. In quest of 
these they have also been seen running along the top of a 
hedge. The Lark uses a quantity of sand and gravel with 
its food, 
The note of the Sky Lark, so rich and clear, full and 
varied, is universally appreciated, so that one may surely say 
‘where is the man with soul so dead,’ who, when on some 
cbar bright day in early spring, when all nature is full of 
hone, and in the blue sky above scarce a cloud is to be seen 
he for the first time that year hears the well-known carol, 
can help turning his eyes upwards to detect the songster, and 
follow the happy bird, to trace, till he can no longer follow 
it, save faintly with his ear, in its aerial ascent, step by step, 
