GUIDE NOTES

Southland Times, Issue 23652, 29 October 1938, Page 5

GUIDE NOTES

By BIG GUIDE “Circumstances are the rulers of the weak—they are but the instruments of the wise.” The nature note this week is on the skylark. It is a bird of the open country, fond of arable land and always most plentiful in the cultivated fields. It is by no means a • conspicious bird, being clothed in various shades of earth brown. It has a short crest and light eye-stripe. Probably its most conspicu-. ous feature is the pair of white feathers on either side of its tail which are seen to greatest advantage when rival males chase one another in spring, flying in swift circles just above the ground. . The song if the skylark is unlike that of any other bird. Rising in a spiral on quivering wings it “drops the silver chain of sound, of many links without a break.” The song is continued until the bird has descended to within 20 or 30 feet of the earth, when with closed wings it dives to the grass. The lark’s nest is merely a hollow in the ground, lined with dry grass. Four or five greyish white eggs closely spotted with brown are laid and two broods are raised in a season. How many of the town Guides have been through Queen’s Park recently? At present it is a picture and rich in | material for nature for second class. Now is the time to observe the English trees. Watch to see the order in | which they open their buds; the ash ( for instance is just bursting its black buds now. Here is an interesting exercise to test poise. Get a small paper picnic plate or even just a piece of paper shaped like a saucer. Suspend it by string from something overhead such as the electric light so that the hat sits lightly on the top of the head when standing very straight. Then very slowly with eyes looking steadily in front, bend the knees outward' and go down to curtsey sitting position or knees full bend. Now stretch the knees slowly and attempt to rise with a good straight back. There must be no leaning forward for the head must fit straight up into the hat again.