TALES OF THE WILDERNESS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1336, 13 January 1912, Page 6

TALES OF THE WILDERNESS.

POHOIHOI, THE LARK, (By Will Lawson.) ' (All Eights Eesorvcd.) ' All through tho nnusaally warm August night, Pohoihoi, the Lark, rested uneasily in his tussock shelter, on. tho northern hill-slope. As tho sun went down on the evening before, and tho light haze spread over tho sea and sandy flats where tho scattered cottages showed winking lights ill tho growing dusk, ho had felt tho thrill of spring. The night was very warm, much warmer than any einco tho autumn gavo placo to winter. Olio by ono tho cottage lights had faded; .only the lighthouso and the red light of tho , channel-buoy maintained dheir steady .'rivalry with tho stars of tho heavens. After midnight Pohoihoi slept better, but ho awoko again two hours beforo dawn and chirped softly to. his fellows in the tussocks. Among the answering calls—very subdued calls they were—was ono that mado him cngor for tho dawn to break. At last tho cast began to lighten with a strange 'softness which at first seemed to bo but tho reflected radiance of all the blazing stars.. Steadily it spread till all the eastern skies were palo beyond tho black-looming hills, and the whole prospect of sea and land glimmered ghostly in the splendid silenco of the dawn. Pohoihoi began to fret in his ex- ■ citement. Every timo he chirped his soft, • little love-call and tho answering notts, floated back, his u;hole being throbbed with tho fires of spring. f ro v sently tho skies' splendour changed to a" delicate pink and saffron, which made tho fctill waters appoar most beautifully unreal. Pohoihoi could contain himself no longer. With a short run and a beating of little wings ho leaped into tho dear air whilti his throat vibrated with tho song his soul gave birth to. Round and upward ill a spiral light lie flew with quick-beating wings. Tho earth receded from him, tho hills flattened, tho v.-ide ocean behind tho ridge of hills spread \ out in the beautiful glow of morning. It seemed to bo in Pohoihoi's heart to get as near, tho splondid heavens as his pmall framo could win, and though tho tong from his throat and the power of liis wings could not equal the 'melody I and soaring powers of the English skylark, tho song was nevertheless very sTveet, and the fluttering bird a small speck in the brightening sky when rising to follow him into the air, the hen bird that he had wooid all night .launched upward on glad ■wings. Together they sang and fluttered at a great height, wliilo early rising humans who loved tho open, turned in their beds and looked to seo how light it was, eager as Pohoihoi to ba out, and envious of the soaring birds, whoso lives ■were, not ordered by arbitrary laws, forbidding free living in God's wide world and glorious skies. For a long timo the birds sang to one another, and watched the earth brighten till' at last the sun rose clear of tho ranges, and tho earth was bathed in his light. Then with slower beating wings and softer-sounding notes they slowly e«nk back to earth, finally ceasing their music a short flight from tho beloved tussock. into which they dived abruptly. In their morning fligrht they had sealed their bond; Pohoihoi had chosen his mate, and sho had found him pleasing Together they ran about on tho borders of tho road which crossed the flat below tha tussocl{—on soma newly-dug earth among the grass in the paddocks—looking for their breakfast. They did not hop liko sparrows and other small birds, but ran swiftly in sliort dashes, with flirting tails and quickly-turning heads. Some-, times they seemed to listen, as though they could hear the insects stirring in response to tho sun's warm rays. When they had finished breakfast .'hov began | tho building of,' their nest. ' The spotchosen was beneath a large tussock alongside an old fcnce-p.i?t where wandering horses or cattle would not be likely to tread. It was a deep, cup-shaped nest, mado of all sorts of little trifles of grass and ..tussock, and in, it Pohoihoi's mato laid four eggs, brown oggs, deepening to. rory dark brown at tho thick ends. Tho two' took turns at sitting on the nest, and were equally excited when four youngsters with enormously large, disproportionately largo mouths, were hatched. Thqse mouths took a great deal of food, and' both birds worked most industriously to supply tho ■want. In this department Pohoihoi had a friend who helped him—a man who had a garden near the hill tussocks, and rose very early to dig in it. When Pohoihoi ,rushed skyward to gr«t tha dawn the man rose' too, and presently Pohoihoi and his mato wero following close behind the cutting, cleaving, ploughing spade, which turned out worms and grubs and soft young wetas. The birds ate a few, but stored most of them in ■■' their bills, for, like all birds, they could do this, nnd 'even chirp and call with full bills. Then one, then the other, would dart away, and by a devious route reach tho four mouths that gaped beneath the tussock, gaped ever for food. Back again to the gardener's spado ; Pohoihoi' flew, to follow its swest, carth-smellmg-swathe. Thero was no fear of .this man in Pohoihoi's, heart—they wero great friends, these three early ■ risers.-. Uut the little birds were hard • taskmasters. If the man paused to look at'the view .• or at a swift steamer passing into or out of the harbour, they fluttered about his feot, and chirped and flirted their tails till he set his spado digging again, and they pounced on, tho rich harvest of the they wore quite stron" and hardened in muscle and bone.and bill, the younk larks the.v never left the shelter of fli® tussock. There was always Kahu, tha Harrier, to reckon with, besides rate and woasels. 'When they bad grown and were fit ,to learn to fly there were hundreds of von'ng ones liko them in the far stretching tussock. -By short flights, Pohoihoi led them till their, wings began' to carry them, quite cairily,' until, when, the man arose one morning, he found six birds awaiting him instead of two. The young ones were shy at first, but hunger made them bolder, they learned to watdli for tho tumbling red brown spadefuls oi parth "and to dart in upon tho gr'jbs. Verv soon, vhowever, th'o youngsters flut- — tering vaguely over the lulls and flats and swampv beathes, found other quarters, and only Pohoihoi and his mate came Tcgularlv every, morning. Tho birds did not attempt to bring up another family that, stumper—tho rest of their timo they devoted to taking sliortflichted. wandering journeys over all tho wide hillsides and valleys. Sometimes Kalin camo upon them and set them fluttering nnd crying in confusion. Great terror filled their hearts, .almost paralysing their wings. Yet their confusion often saved them, for Kahu, being a coward and blusterer, and lacking in purpose, did not single out one victim,, but charged at the mass, nnd often missed them all. From' the terror of the talons of Kahu Pohoihoi nearly died, for tho fascination and fear that Kahu exercised nud inspired caused tho small heart to almost cease beating, and paralysed the nerves and muscles. But- after lying in the- grass for a time, Pohoihoi rose again , as lively as ever. So summer and autumn went., and t.h? long winter nishts camev making tho Lark and his fellows crouch close to the warm drv turf be'wath tho tussocks and fern, and because they knew that spring would surely come, they rose every day, . cold or warm, and sang their glnd songs to the morning, and again when the short days died.