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It lives in fields near the water, and feeds en insects. It is called a lark, only because it sings when rising on the wing, builds on the ground, &c.

What is often called, in the United States, the Meadow lark, builds its nest under a thick tuft of grass, in meadows, where they usually reside. Their eggs, which are white, are marked with specks and blotches of a reddish brown, especially at the larger end. Their nests are ingeniously constructed and slightly resemble an oven. The throat breast, and belly of this bird are of a bright yellow, with an oblong spot of velvet black on the lower part of the throat. This bird, too, is quite a musician, but its notes are rather melancholy. When it alights on trees, it is on the very highest spot it can find, and here it utters its songs. In autumn, they sometimes collect in very large flocks.

For Parley's Magazine.

THE SKY LARK'S SONG. Ere the sun is up, I am soaring away, Through the clouds in the clear blue sky; And amid their fleeces I merrily play, Ere the morning wind floats by. High and low, high and low,

Ere the mists from the valley are gone, Above the waving forests I go,

When their boughs are gilt by the sun.

Where the black-bird warbles far below,

In the thicket's moving shade;
Where the winding stream doth onward flow
Through the meadow, the forest and glade;
On each wave I see the white spray,

Dash o'er the wandering bark;
Whose sails are spread as it glides away

Where the shade of the forest lies dark.

S. S.

TWIRLING FOR LARKS.

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This is a species of bird huuting, common among the French, and we do not know that it is practised by any other nation. Who would ever wish to practice it, after reading the foregoing song?

They prepare a sort of looking glass which is so contrived as to reflect the sun's rays upward This is fixed on the top of an iron rod, on an upright spindle. By pulling a string, fastened to the spindle, the mirror whirls round, and the reflected light attracts the larks, who hover over it, and become a ready mark for the sportsman. The larks seem to be fascinated, for after being fired at several times, they return again to the twirler, and hover over it, in large groups; and some of them even settle within a few feet of it, as if nothing had happened. The usual time selected, for twirling the lark, is on a still, clear, frosty morning. If there are clouds, it is said the larks will not approach.

One would think that this cruel sportfor all sports are cruel which concern lifewould be confined to men and boys; but we find that ladies often join in it, as spectators. Probably these same persons, if they lived in a country where bull-fights are allowed, would join in the crowd to witness, perhaps to enjoy, the heart-rending sight. So powerful is custom, and so easily are we misled by it!

“What man has done man may do.”—Gideon Lee, who was once a poor man and went from house to house to make or mend shoes for a livelihood, is now Mayor of the largest city of the United States. How has he risen to this high and honorable office: By persevering industry and economy. He has, moreover, always sustained an irre

proachable character. No young man who is honest, industrious, and economical, can know but what he may one day fill as high a station as Gideon Lee of New York.

"The House I live in," a new book of 144 pages, says that the frame of the house, (the skeleton of the human body,) contains, in the whole, more than one hundred and thirty six hinges (joints); and that instead of allowing of motion in one direction only, like those of common doors, many of them allow motion sideways, upwards, downwards, backward, and forward.

A FRAGMENT.

When day's bright banner, first unfurled,
From darkness free, the shrouded world,
The Sky Lark singing as he soars,
On the fresh air his carol pours.
But though to heaven he wings his flight.
As if he loved those realms of light,
He still returns with weary wing,
On earth to end his wandering.

So he, whose voice is early given
To notes of praise that mount to heaven,
If fettered by the toils of life,
Its sordid cares, its sinful strife,
Finds his attempts to soar in vain,
And sadly sinks to earth again.

CORRESPONDENCE.

EXTRACTS.

Letter from Darien, (Georgia,) to the Editor. Sometime after your interesting little magazine found its way as far south as this, our instructer introduced it into the school of which we are members. At first, we did not think it looked like a school book, but we had not read through the first number, before we found it just what our teacher told us it was—that it would not only learn

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us (like any other book) to read well, but learn us many things useful. He said that whatever we found in Parley's Magazine, we might rely on to be the truth; for you were a great friend to children, and would never write any thing to deceive them. On behalf of the class,

Respectfully, yours, &c., [Signed by D. F. L.-E. K.-M. G.—and L. M. W., members of the class.]

Letter from Portsmouth, (N. H.)

I take your Magazine, and I like it very much. There are a great many pieces in it that I have copied on paper: and one or two that I have spoken at school.

In No. 3, there is the story of the Sailor Boy, and it says that it will be continued in another number: and my sister and I, have been looking for it ever since; and have got No. 22, and we are afraid that you have forgotten it: because we have seen nothing about it.

Yours, Respectfully, JOSEPH.

Portsmouth, Jan. 28, 1834.

A VERY SMALL MAN.

SIMON RAAP, of Haarlem, in Holland, is supposed by many to have been the smallest adult of the whole human race. When he was exhibited in London, a few years ago, he was 26 years of age, and 23 inches in height; and weighed only 27 pounds. He did not grow larger after he was six years old. He appeared, at first, much like a child not more than four or five years old; but on a closer examination, his face contained wrinkles.

An exhibition like this, could not fail to excite great interest in London; and why not? A man less than two feet in height, would be a sight worth seeing.

Destroyed by the Persians, it was rebuilt in a noble manner by Pericles, 444 years before Christ. Here stood the statue of Minerva, formed of ivory, 46 feet high, and richly decorated with gold to the value of more than $520,000.

The Propylæum, built of white marble, formed the entrance to the Parthenon. This building lay on the north side of the Acropolis, close to the Erectheum, also of white marble, consisting of two temples; besides another remarkable building, called the

Where found-Singular bill-Its size-Food-Nest

Color.

The Skimmer, or Scissors-bill, is found along the American coast, from New York to Brazil. It is also found on the shores of Senegal, in Africa, and on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, in the East Indies. The immense power of flight with which this tenant of the ocean is endowed, renders it perfectly at home hundreds of miles from shore, and though it can swim with tolerable ease, it is seldom seen, except on the wing.

We introduce it here, on account of the singular mechanism of its bill. The bill of a bird always guides us to a knowledge of its food and natural habits. Who can mistake the purpose of the strong, hooked, tooth-like beak of the falcon? Or the singu lar mandibles of the spoon-bill? Or the long slender bill of the snipe and curlew? Or is there no purpose-no design--no handy work of a Creator, in all this mechanism ?--But there is as strong an example of me. chanism, and of design too, in the skimmer,