SKY LARK. 171 



wards poises himself with breast opposed to it. If calm, he 

 ascends in spiral circles ; in horizontal circles during the prin- 

 cipal part of his song, and zigzagly downwards during the 

 performance of the Jincde. Sometimes, after descending about 

 half-way, he ceases to sing, and drops with the velocity of an 

 arrow to the ground. Those acquainted with the song of the 

 Sky Lark can tell without looking at them whether the birds 

 be ascending or stationary in the air, or on their descent ; so 

 diiferent is the style of the song in each case. In the first there 

 is an expression of ardent impatience ; in the second an an- 

 dante composure, in which rests of a bar at a time frequently 

 occur ; and in the last, a graduated sinking of the strains, often 

 touching the subdominant before the final close. The time 

 and number of the notes often correspond with the vibrations 

 of the wings ; and though they sometimes sing while on the 

 ground, as they are seen to do in cages, their whole frame seems 

 to be agitated by their musical efibrts."" 



" Larks," says Mr Weir, are strongly attached to their young. 

 I saw a collier last summer (1837) gin a pair and put them 

 and their nestlings, which were four in number, into a cage. 

 In the course of a few hours they began to feed them, and con- 

 tinued to do so until they were able to peck. I know a woman 

 who has kept a male lark for several years. During that time 

 he has acted as a faithful step-father, having brought up a 

 number of his own species, likewise several broods of linnets. 

 And what is still more wonderful, I saw a lark which was 

 only a few weeks old, assisting him most assiduously in giving 

 food to a family of young birds." 



The Sky Lark generally rears two broods each season, the 

 first being usually abroad by the lOtli of June, but often earlier, 

 and in fine seasons so soon as the middle of May. The nest is 

 formed in a hollow scraped in the ground, among corn, in a 

 hay field, or in an open pasture. It is composed of stalks and 

 blades of withered grass ; rather loosely put together, and lined 

 with finer fibres. The eggs are four or five, from ten to eleven- 

 twelfths of an inch in length, about eight and a half twelfths 

 across, of a broadly oval form, greenish-grey, irregularly freckled 

 with deeper greenish-grey, or greyish-brown, or umber-brown, 



