Early in the season Larks rise but a small height in the air, and sing only for a brief period; but in the full tide of their joy they pour out their music for six, seven, and even ten or fifteen minutes without ceasing. During the latter part of the season the males of this species appear to grow idle and sing a good deal upon the ground. I have also heard them sing from the tops of gates, small bushes, and even stunted trees. I fondly imagined that everybody loved the varied, sprightly, and unstinted song of the Skylark until the other day, when I happened to dip into an old book on the subject of our song birds, and discovered that the author described its notes as “harsh and monotonous in the extreme ... and when divested of all associations they are a wretched concern ... wholly devoid of melody.” I thought that the writer was preparing to justify himself for eating larks, but this practice he appeared to decry almost as much as the bird’s music. Skylarks frequently borrow notes from other birds. In the Outer Hebrides great numbers of them introduce the sweet call notes of the Ringed Plover into their carols. Unless some enemy in the shape of a Merlin appears in the sky they always, or nearly always, end their songs with a note sounding like _hear-it, hear-it, hear-it_. The call sounds like _tu-wit_, _twe-wit_, or _two wut_. [Illustration: cloudy skies] =THE REDSTART.= [Illustration: cluster of flowers] The Redstart has been very aptly named, for the second syllable of the word means tail. It is also known in many parts of the country as Firetail, and the bright rusty-red colour of that appendage, which is quite unlike that of any other British bird, and is constantly being shaken and quivered, renders it easy to identify whenever and wherever it may be seen. This bird arrives upon our shores about the second week in April, and wings its way south again towards the end of August, both movements being subject to some modification in consequence of the character of the weather prevailing at the time it commences its travels. [Illustration: FEMALE REDSTART WITH FOOD FOR CHICKS.] It is found breeding in suitable places all over England and Wales, and less numerously in Scotland. I have met with it most commonly in certain parts of the Principality and in Westmorland and Northumberland. It appears to be partial to isolated farmhouses with a few old trees round them and plenty of straggling, dilapidated outbuildings, old ruins, and gardens surrounded by moss-grown stone walls. I have frequently found the bird, however, breeding in solitary woods, and secured the photograph showing the nest and eggs figuring in this article in the silent depths of a great Highland pine forest.