INTRODUCED WILD BIRDS 179 
mainly on the ground, and is rarely seen resting on a perch. 
It does not hop along like the Thrush or Sparrow, but 
runs like the Starling or Domestic Fowl. 
Its food consists of worms, insects, grubs, and seeds— 
most of which it obtains when running on the ground, 
though it is often seen pursuing and catching insects on the 
wing. ‘The service it does in destroying insects and insect- 
larvee is almost incalculable. 
The following extract from a recent publication admirably 
expresses the marvellous power of flight and song possessed 
by this bird. 
“For its music alone the song of the lark is almost the 
most melodious of any bird’s. The tone and quality are 
admirable, and the volume of sound astonishing. It can 
be heard clearly when the lark has mounted, as it some 
times does, beyond recognition by normal eyesight. The 
volume of sound is also most noticeable when a caged Lark 
is heard, singing, as it does, far nearer to the hearer than 
the bird in the sky. But apart from the quality and music 
of the song, the circumstances in which it is uttered render 
it an astonishing feat. Every other considerable songster 
is quite aware that singing entails much physical effort. 
Consequently it takes care to secure a good platform to 
sing from. A Thrush or a Blackbird nearly always selects 
a top shoot, or projecting bough, preferably a dead one, on 
which it sits and sings, never moving its position, and 
without any objects round it to hinder the ‘carry’ of its 
voice. But to the strain on its lungs of long-protracted 
song the Lark adds the great muscular exertion of a steady 
upward flight, usually carried out, not by scaling the air in 
gentle circles,.as in the soaring of the larger birds, but by a 
vertical climb made by the incessant beating of its pe 
Wordsworth’s recognition of it as the— 
‘*'T'ype of the wise who soar, but never roam ; 
True to the kindred points of Heaven and Home! ”— 
