Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-04-19
THE SHORE LARK.
Which d Bird-Lover Calls the Skylark of
America.


We all have read in prose and verse of
the skylark of Western Europe; how
many of us know that we have a skylark
of our own?
In summer I never see him. In
Massachusetts he is merely a resident
| from October to April, and is not a sky
lark at all, going to Labrador to sing and
breed. AS a winter visitor he is found
as far south as Washington. In West
ern New York he comes in February,
breeds in early spring and goes in Novem-
Der, breeding also in Minnesota. Wheth-
er he is found in all the regions thus out
lined do not know; very likely his range
to the northwest is still greater.
Should | lose my calendar should
know by the appearance of the lark that
the date was February 10; the mercury
may be at zero, but that is none OF his
business. Other winter birds as the
Arctic sparrow and yellow bird, the lat
ter disguised as female-seek deep ra-
vines, where, amidst thick brushwood
and tall weeds, they are protected from
cold and storm; but the shore lark be-
takes himself to high, open fields, less
perhaps to enjoy the keen. north wind
have swept away the snow, exposing the
seeds he is after.
In June and earlier the shore lark be
comes a skylark. The old world lark is
said to climb a spiral stair with his nest
at it's foot; ours goes drifting through
the sky, keeping at about the same
height from the ground, going up and
coming down little, turning in all di-
rections in a may dance as he autters
slowly along, going mile. perhaps, be-
fore sailing down in long slant he
comes back to earth, but not back to his
nest, so far as | know. Even now his
song does not ceaSe-mOuntlng stone
he goes right on. The English lark is
| lost to sight sometimes, and ours is often
hard to see; you will listen and look some
little time before you get your eye on
him. Soon after midsummer he ceases
to sing.
He is nocturnal in winter; if you wish
to know whether he is to be found in
your fields, go out in a calm snoWstorm
in the evening when no sound is heard
but the soft crush of the snoWhakes and
listen. A soft snowfall makes him as
jubilant as a gentle spring rain does
flock of robins, and you will, if he is pres
ent, soon hear his ee-che-ch-ch-ch-ch-
chez. the notes fairly tumbling over each
other in the middle. AS a skylark he
sings it constantly over and over, but
| now he waits long enough for comrade
| to repeat it.
J The hermit thrush would not think
this melody at all, but if / like the gen
eral character of a bird / like his at
tempts to sing, and l greatly like and
esteem the shore lark. And [ suspect
| that the old world lark owes more to his
domestic disposition and the sum Of his
| qualities than to his ability as a song
ster Our lark walks like crow and
is no more likely to light on tree than
| is a goose; a fence or a wall is the only
substitute for the earth or a stone. His
| back is the tint of road dust, he is white
beneath, large black crescent, with it's
horns pointing upward, is on his breast,
and smaller one on each side OF his
| head, the ear coverts make a pair of
sharp and slender "horns," not very con-
spicuous, however.-Vick's Magazine.