2 
SIT ORE LABK. 
rather their flight, to their native land, the inhospitable climes 
of the frozen north; few, however, wander to the very extremest 
polar regions. 
The Shore Lark is rather shy in its habits, but, when 
engaged with its young, sits very close, either through a 
temporary change of disposition, or from anxiety for its brood, 
as if conscious of the protection which nature has afforded 
to it in the assimilation of the colour of its plumage to that 
of the scanty verdure alone to be found where it has its 
dwelling. Should, however, danger seem to approach too 
closely, the anxious mother flutters away from any chance 
intruder, feigning lameness so cunningly, that none but one 
accustomed to the sight could refrain from pursuit. Her 
partner immediately joins her in mimic wretchedness, uttering 
a soft and plaintive note. It would appear that these birds 
may be kept in confinement. 
Its food consists of the buds, blossoms, and seeds of the 
stunted vegetation of the Arctic regions, and such insects as 
may there be also found. Flies it expertly chases on the 
wing; and at times it betakes itself to the sea-shore, to search 
for minute shell-fish or Crustacea. 
The male bird sings sweetly while on the wing, although 
its song is comparatively short. It rises from the moss, or 
the bare rock, in a short oblique flight of a few yards, begins 
and ends its madrigal, performs a few irregular evolutions, 
and returns to the ground. There also it sings, but less 
frequently, and with less fullness. It has at times a ven- 
triloquistic power, which makes its note seem like that of 
another species. When the young are hatched, the music, 
for the most part, ceases—the ‘cares of a family’ are felt by 
the feathered as well as by the human species. ‘There is a 
time for all things,’ says the wise man; ‘a time to weep, and 
a time to laugh.’ 
In the desolate and sterile tracts which extend in the 
high latitudes from the sea-shore to regions, if possible, still 
more savagely wild and barren, the whole face of the country 
is described as one boundless succession of hoary granite rock, 
covered with mosses and lichens, varying in size and hue— 
some green, others as white as snow, and others of divers 
colours of every tint, and growing in large tufts and patches. 
Here the Shore Lark builds, and rears her young. 
The nest, which is composed of fine grasses, circularly 
disposed, and lined with feathers, exactly resembles in colour 
