Some Account of the British Song Birds. 415 



power. They also differ from the last, in continuing* their 

 song, sometimes, throughout the night, especially if two or 

 more are singing together ; as if excited by a kind of rivalry. 

 I have noticed that this bird is capricious as to its breeding 

 habitat. In some years they are met with in every field of 

 a large district : in others, not a pair is ever seen or heard; 

 They are not so plentiful as many others field birds ; owing, 

 perhaps, to the little care they take to conceal their nests. 

 Exposed on the surface without even a screening leaf, they 

 are easily spied out by the owl, crow, magpie, and sparrow- 

 hawk, all of which will take their young. 



hlnthus [heretofore Alauda) pratensis, 1. Titlark, or Lesser 

 Field Lark. — This little emigrant arrives about the same 

 time as the swallow. Like other larks, they nestle on the 

 ground, and always near a high hedge or tree, on the top of 

 which the cock sits and sings, and whence he frequently 

 springs silently up in the air to the height of 20 or 30 ft., 

 and then slowly descends with extended wings, singing his 

 peculiar tit tit tit song, by which he is readily distinguished. 



A'nthus {heretofore Alauda) jn^ttensis, 2. Smallest Field Lark^ 

 — This small bird, in his manner of singing, resembles the 

 titlark in the breeding season; but for the rest of the year 

 (for he does not migrate) has only a shrill chirp or call, espe- 

 cially when disturbed and taking wing. This is also called 

 the titlark ; but the birds are very different in habits, size, and 

 colour. This last is always found on waste ground and 

 commons, among furze and low bushes, where it breeds. 



The cuckoo is constantly, at least often, followed by a small 

 bird, which is said to be a titlark. On this circumstance is 

 founded the proverb, on describing two disproportionately 

 - sized animals ; they are said to be " like the cuckoo and tit- 

 lark." From repeated observation it has appeared to me that 

 the purpose of the small bird is to watch the motions of the 

 cuckoo, and to drive her away ; because, when on wing, the 

 titlark is seen to dart on the cuckoo, as the swallow does upon 

 the sparrow-hawk ; and if the tit has any instinctive jealousy 

 for the honour of his bed, his aversion to the cuckoo is na- 

 turally justifiable.* 



* It has not yet, I believe, been ascertained by naturalists whether it be 

 the male or female bird that gives the well-known call, or whether they do 

 not both sing the same notes. If, as it is suggested above, the titlark has 

 any instinctive perception of the imposition intended by the cuckoo, the 

 object of the small bird's attack must be the female; and, if the female, 

 then I am certain that she sings the peculiar note ; because I have seen her 

 repeatedly struck at while singing it. Besides, the cuckoo, male or female, 

 I know not which, has another note, as distinct from the common one as 

 two sounds can well be, and which I never remember to have seen noticed 



