172 ALAUDA ARVENSIS. 



so thickly at the larger end as to obscure the ground-colour. 

 They vary greatly in form, the longest in my collection mea- 

 suring an inch and half a twelfth, with a breadth of only seven 

 and a quarter twelfths, the shortest being nine and a half 

 twelfths long and seven twelfths broad, while another is ten 

 and a half twelfths long and eight and a half twelfths in 

 breadth. Although few authors, in speaking of the nest, 

 make mention of an artificial hollow for its reception, I 

 have never found it otherwise situated than in a cavity so 

 regularly rounded that it could not but have been scraped 

 out by the bird itself. Two nests in particular, one in 

 gravelly soil on the Braid Hills near Edinburgh, another in an 

 outfield of which the soil was almost pure sand, in Harris, 

 were so deeply sunk that their edge was level with the surface. 

 When sitting on the eggs, the Lark will allow a person to walk 

 quite close by without rising, and I once caught one thus oc- 

 cupied which I accidentally perceived while walking through a 

 corn-field. When disturbed and forced to rise, she flies off 

 low, with a cowering tremulous flight, and either alights at a 

 little distance, or ascends and hovers around, emitting a faint 

 churm, which generally brings up the male. When bringing 

 food to her young, she sometimes hovers a few moments over 

 the nest and drops beside it, but often alights at a little distance 

 and runs up to it. Boys frequently discover Larks' nests by 

 watching their fluttering descent into them. 



This bird always reposes on the ground at night, squatting 

 frequently in the barest places. Its principal enemies, besides 

 man, are Polecats, Weasels, Merlins, Sparrow Hawks, and 

 Kestrils. The latter sometimes devour the young birds, which 

 also fall a prey to the quadrupeds mentioned. I remember 

 seeing in a grass field, many years ago, a number of Larks 

 hovering over a particular spot, and incessantly uttering cries 

 that seemed to me indicative of anxiety or distress. On going 

 up, I observed a Polecat rush through the grass and disappear. 

 It had been disturbed while in the act of eating the young 

 birds in a nest, and had killed the whole, for those which re- 

 mained had the head bitten through. 



From the middle of spring to the end of June, Larks may 



