WOODLARK 177 



songsters, but is the least known of all. The tree-pipit, sometimes 

 called woodlark, is a much better known songster. When the wood- 

 lark is seen and heard he is taken by most people for the skylark. 

 The mistake is easily made, the song having the same character, 

 and is a continuous stream of jubilant sound, delivered in the same 

 manner ; for the woodlark, too, soars, * and soaring, sings.' He differs 

 from the skylark in his manner of rising : that bird goes up and up, 

 not quite vertically, but inclining now to this side, now to that, with 

 intervals of suspension, but still as if drawn heavenwards by an 

 invisible cord or magnet ; the woodlark ascends in circles, and 

 finally does not attain to so great a height. He also sings on his 

 perch on a tree, and rises from the tree to sing aloft, and in this 

 habit he is like the tree-pipit. Although the woodlark's song re- 

 sembles that of the larger bird in character, there is more sameness 

 in the flow of sounds, and it is not so powerful ; on the other hand, 

 the sounds are sweeter in quaHty. Of the two, he is the more con- 

 stant singer, and may be heard in mild weather throughout the 

 autumn and winter months. His usual call is a melodious double 

 note. 



The woodlark is very local in its distribution ; it is nowhere 

 common, and its range in this country is a somewhat limited one. 

 In the north of England it is very rare, and in Scotland it has only 

 once been observed breeding. In Ireland it breeds in some locahties. 

 It inhabits wooded parks and the borders of woods and commons, 

 and grass-lands in the vicinity of trees and hedgerows ; for although 

 it feeds, roosts, and nests on the ground, it must, like the tree-pipit, 

 have trees to perch on ; and, like that bird, it has a favourite perch, 

 where it may be confidently looked for at any hour of the day 

 during the spring and summer months. 



The nest is placed in a slight hollow in the groimd, under a bush, 

 or sheltered by grass and herbage, and is formed of dry grass and 

 moss, and lined with finer grab's and hair. The eggs are four or five 

 in number, huffish or faint greenish white in ground-colour, freckled 

 and spotted with reddish brown, with purple -grey under-markings. 

 Three, and even four, broods are said to be reared in the season. 



In autumn and winter the woodlarks uiiite in famihes or small 

 flocks, and at this season they have a partial or internal migration, 

 the birds that breed in the northern counties moving south. In 

 the southern and south-western counties they remain stationary, 

 and it is observed that during a spell of mild weather in winter 

 these small flocks break up, but re-form at the return of cold. 



