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Is smaller than the skylark, and his voice deeper The general character of the kind is found again in this bird, but the difference consists chiefly in his having a circle of white feathers encompassing the head, from eye to eye, like a crown or wreath, and the utmost feather of the wing being much shorter than the second, whereas in the common lark they are nearly equal. This bird sometimes emulates the nightingale; and, when pouring his sweet melody in the

grove, during a silent night, he is often mistaken for Philomel herself. These birds sit and perch upon trees, which habit the common lark has not, being always found on the ground. They build their nest at the foot of a bush, near the bottom of a hedge, or in high dry grass. The number of eggs is about four; these are of a pale bloom colour, beautifully mottled, and clouded with red and yellow. Like the skylark, they assemble in large flocks during frosty weather. Their usual food consists of small beetles, caterpillars, and other insects, as well as the seeds of numerous kinds of wild plants.

Bright o'er the green hills rose the morning ray,
The Woodlark's song resounded on the plain,

Fair Nature felt the warm embrace of day,
And smiled through all her animated reign.

LANGHORNE.

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Is another branch of the family of the Larks, and differs from the common ones in several particulars. The colour of the plumage is more uniform, but fainter and less beautiful; he has a shorter tail, and differs also in size; besides, he does not soar up so high in the air, and, when he mounts up, cannot remain so long on the wing. They do not assemble together in flocks as the others do, and are often seen about the banks of lakes and rivers. But the principal and most striking point of difference resides in the crest, which the bird can raise or depress at pleasure.

The Grasshopper Lark is the smallest of this species. Its bill is slender and dusky. The upper parts of the body are of a variegated greenish brown; the under parts of a yellowish white, speckled irregularly on the neck and breast. The feathers of the wings and tail are of a palish dusky brown. The tail is long, and somewhat wedge-shaped. Its hind claws, though shorter and more crooked than those of the skylark, sufficiently mark its kind. It builds its nest on the ground, and conceals it beneath a turf; the female lays five eggs, marked with brown near the larger end.

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THE WATER WAGTAIL.

THERE is not a brook purling along between the green confinement of two flowery hedges, not a rivulet winding through the green meadow, not a river pacing across the country, which is not frequented by this handsomely coloured and elegantly shaped little creature. We even see him often in the streets of country towns, following, with a quick pace, the half drowned fly or moth, which the canal stream carries away. Next to the robin redbreast and the sparrow, they come nearest to our habitations. They are too well known to need description.

However, we must mention two different species of this bird. The white or common Wagtail has a black breast; in the other the breast and belly are yellow. The Wagtails are much in motion; seldom perch, and perpetually flirt their long and slender tail, principally after picking up some food from the ground, as if that tail were a kind of lever or counterpoise, used to balance the body on the legs. They are observed to frequent, more commonly, those streams where women come to wash their linen; probably not ignorant, that the soap, the froth of which floats upon the water, attracts those insects which are most acceptable to them.

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THE Nightingale has little to boast, if we consider its plumage, which is of a pale tawny colour on the head and back, dashed with a little shade of olive; the breast and upper part of the belly incline to a grayish tint, and the lower part of the belly is almost white; the exterior web of the quill feathers is of a reddish brown; the tail of a dull red; the legs and feet ashcoloured; the irides hazel; and the eyes large, bright, and staring. It is hardly possible to give an idea of the extraordinary power which this small bird possesses in his throat, as to extension of sound, sweetness of tone, and versatility of notes. Its song is composed of several musical phrases, each of which does not continue more than the third part of a minute, but

they are so varied; the passing from one tone to another is so fanciful, and so rapid; the melody so sweet, and so mellow; that the most consummate musician is pleasingly led to a deep sense of admiration at hearing it. Sometimes joyful and merry, it runs down the diapason with the velocity of lightning, touching the treble and the bass nearly at the same instant; at other times, mournful and plaintive, the unfortunate Philomela draws heavily her lengthened notes, and breathes a delightful melancholy around. These have the appearance of sorrowful sighs; the other modulations resemble the laughter of the happy. Solitary on the twig of a small tree, and cautiously at a certain distance from the nest, where the pledges of his love are treasured under the fostering breast of his mate, the male fills constantly the silent woods with his harmonious strains; and during the whole night entertains and repays his female for the irksome duties of incubation. For it is not when the harsh and sometimes discordant concert of the other songsters is at full play, that the Nightingale wastes his songs to the astounded coppices; he waits till the blackbird and the thrush have uttered their evening call, even till the stock and ring doves have by their soft murmurings lulled each other to rest, and then he displays, at full, his melodious faculties.

-Listening Philomela deigns,

To let them joy, and purposes in thought
Elate, to make her night excel their day.
THOMSON.

It is a great subject of astonishment, that so small a bird should be endowed with such potent lungs. If the evening is calm, it is supposed that its song may be heard above half a mile. This bird, the ornament and charm of our spring and summer evenings, disappears on a sudden, and as it cannot be ascertained

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