Amador ledger., 1904-08-26
THE SKYLARK'S SONG
AN ASTONISHING FEAT FROM MANY
POINTS OF VIEW.

OF It's music alOne the song or the
lark is almost the most melodious of
any birds. The tone and quality are
admirable and the volume of sound as
tonishing. 1t can be heard clearly
when the lark has mounted, as II
sometimes does, beyond recognition by
normal eyesight. The volume of sound
is also most noticeable when a Gagged
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 circum-
stances 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 good platform to sing
from. A thrush or a blackbird or a
robin 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 1t to hinder the carry of
its voice The blackcap and nightin-
gale and some of the warblers sit in
bush to sing, but the whitethroat
and even the hedge sparrow choose
the topmost twig. The whitethroat
sometimes sings when descending, and
some of the pipits and the wood lark
do the same, the meadow pipit singing
a feeble little song as it makes short
ascent and descent.
But to the strain on its lungs Of long
protracted song the lark adds the great
muscular exertion of steady upward
flight, usually carried out not by seal
ing 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 wings. WORDSWORTH s
recognition of it as the
Type of the wise who soar, but never
roam,
True to the kindred points of heaven and
home.
is often almost literally correct. After
two or three spirals the bird goes up
almost as if it were drawn heavenward
by cord, and then, closing its wings,
descends like a falling stone to the
very point from which it rose. The
strain upon the muscles and the lungs
would be great if during all this time
1t were silent. But 1t chooses to add
to the eXertion of soaring that of pour
ing forth a continuous flood of sweet
notes with no intermissions or breaks
whatever
A lark will soar and sing during a
space of ten minutes consecutively. The
rapidity with which the pectoral mus
cles are working during this period
may be judged from the fact that the
bird makes not less than from five to
six beats Of the wing per second. The
beats are usually in sets of from three
to five, the bird pausing for moment
as if to take a fresh start after the
interval. When chased by the merlin
falcon, skylarks make their finest ex-
hibitions of flight, ascending into the
air to heights which have been esti-
mated as being not less than Il thou
sand feet. Sometimes the bird uses
the same means of ascent as when it is
soaring and singing, rising vertically
by incessant beats of the wing. In the
language of the falconer, these are
termed mounting" larks, and their
object is to outf1y the hawk directly,
shaking off its pursuit during the as
cent. Others prefer to rise by flying in
a spiral, which the falcon initiates.
Mr.. E. B. Michel, in his volume on
'The Art and Practice of Hawking" f"
says: "The one bird may be circling
from right to left and the other from
left to right, and neither seems to guide
the direction of its rings by any refer
ence TO those which the other is max
ing. 1t is now n struggle to see which
can get up fastest, and it is astonish-
ing to see to what a height such flights
will sometimes reach. AS soon as q
lark is 800 feet high it can drop, almost
like stone, into any cover within a
radius of 200 yards from the spot just
under 1t, allowance being made for the
effect of the wind But 800 feet is not
high for ringing flight; at least there
Is nothing unusual about it. A lark
does not go out of sight until it is
much above that height, and it is no
extraordinary thing for it to do this -
The lark seldom sings late in the day.
1t can be tempted to rise in burst of
melody for one final ascent if the even
ing sun breaks through the clouds after
rain, but as a rule it is silent long
before the sun has descended into the
western bed of cloud. We have Mil
toms authority that it is up and in song
before dawn. But those who have
Heard the lark begin its flight
And singing startle the dull night
are not easily found, though in the
height of the pairing time it may very
possibly be beforehand with aurora in
greeting its mate. But as a rule the
lark sings at sunrise, as the ortolan
eats. Darkness depresses it and keeps
1t mute, but gleam of sun is the sig
nal for it to ascend. Obviously rain
soar, both by adding to the weight of
It's body from the moisture caught In
the feathers and by wetting the webs
Of the pinions, so the lark only scars in
the dry as rule. 1t is one of the most
sensitive and best of natures weather
gauges, for when the larks begin to
sing it is almost certain that rain has
ceased for some time, If not for the
day. 1t is the cock lark which sings.
William Cobbett noted that one was
Just soaring and beginning to sing
when the hen flew up and evidently
told him TO stop. for she fetched him