Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

CH. XIX.] The Desert Lark. 71
the desert lark, a bird with such a curious soug that
I am surprised no fanciful traveller has ever thought
it worth while to romance about it. It is a little
brown bird with a speckled breast
which sits generally
on the top of a bush, and every now and then
makes a short flight showing some light feathers in
its wings, and then suddenly closes them and dives
down to its perch. While it does this it sings a
touching melody.
When we first heard it four years ago in the
Sahara we were quite taken in, supposing it to Ije
one of the Arabs w^ith us, whistling to amuse
himself. The quality of the tone is so like that
of the human voice, that we had some trouble
in tracing the song to its right owner. The
birds generally sit in pairs, and it is only one of
them which sings. The song at the head of
this chapter was suggested by it, and by a certain
air one of our camel men was singing the
same day.
Our party now consists of Hanna, Ferhan and
Ghanim, our own men; of Mr. S.'s two servants;
Jazzer the Mehed ; jMohammed, and a certain cousin
of his, Mohammed of Homs, bound on business
the Anazeh. It is of him that we bought the
donkey yesterday, and now he has laid out two
pounds of its price in the purchase of another
donkey, no larger than a Newfoundland dog on
which he sometimes straddles, with his feet on the
ground— it is difficult to call it riding. AVe had
to