1/6 OUR FAVOURITE SONG BIRDS 



ously, so rapturously, and in such a perfect torrent 

 of melody, as to win our highest admiration. Each 

 spell of song lasts from two or three to fifteen 

 minutes. The song of the Sky-Lark ceases in the 

 autumn moult. No bird is more popular as a 

 captive ; it bears confinement well, is easily tamed, 

 and is an exceptionally free singer in its exile. 



During the breeding season, which lasts from 

 April to July, the Sky- Lark is not a very sociable 

 species. Numbers may nest on a small area of 

 ground, yet each pair keeps to itself. The Sky- 

 Lark apparently pairs annually. The nest is always 

 made upon the ground, amongst the herbage of the 

 fields — grain by preference — and waste grounds, or 

 the heather on the moors. It is somewhat small, 

 and made externally of dry grass, dead leaves, and 

 bits of moss, lined with finer grass, roots and horse- 

 hair. The eggs are from three to five in number, 

 greyish or olive in ground-colour, mottled, spotted 

 and speckled with olive-brown and grey. A rare 

 variety is white in ground-colour, spotted and 

 freckled with reddish-brown and pale grey. The 

 female is a close sitter, like most birds of her group, 

 and in leaving and returning to the nest has a habit 

 of running for some distance through the herbage. 

 This species is double-brooded. 



The food of the Sky-Lark, in summer, consists ot 

 insects, larvae and worms, but during the remainder 

 of the year of seeds and grain. There can be no 



