126 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



LETTER XII. 



*'Un manant au miroir prenait des oisillons, 

 Le fantome brillant attire une alouette." 



La Fontaine. 



Netting and Killing Larks near Brighton — Two Modes 

 — Autumnal Migration — '^Chasse au miroir" — 

 Descriptive Sketch — Lark-netting in the Winter 

 — Mode of Capture — Dark Nights — ^^Experientia 

 docet." 



There are two modes of killing larks in the 

 neighbourhood of Brighton, which are worth 

 noticing. The one lucrative, and practised by 

 professional birdcatchers ; attended, moreover, 

 with a certain degree of labour and hardship, 

 and requiring some skill and perseverance; the 

 other a comparatively idle occupation, or amuse- 

 ment, and as repugnant to the feelings of the 

 true sportsman as are the piscatory achievements 

 of a punt-anchored cockney to the salmon-fisher 

 of Connemara ! Nevertheless, as an indulgence 

 in this pastime is very general during three or 

 four weeks in the year, and as it involves the 

 consideration of a peculiar instinct or habit in 



