236 SKYLARK.

moving its eggs under the fear of impending danger;
and Mr. Jesse, in the fourth edition of his “Gleanings,”
adds the following communication made to him by a
clergyman in Sussex, who, during a previous harvest ‘was
riding gently towards Dell Quay in Chichester Harbour,
with two friends; when having passed the toll-bar, the
road is of good elevation, and separated by a short quick-
set edge on each side from the fields, over which there
was a commanding view. When in this situation, their
attention was attracted by a shrieking cry, and they
discovered a pair of skylarks rising out of the stubble;
and crossing the road before them at a slow rate, one
of them having a small bird in its claws, which was
dropped in the opposite field at a height of about thirty
feet from the ground, and killed by the fall. On taking
it up it appeared to have been hatched about eight or
nine days. The affectionate parent was endeavouring ot
convey its young one to a place of safety, but its strength
failed in the attempt.”