THE liHARAT AND ITS KINDRED 129 



which spends so much time on the wing 

 is the acme of cruelty". I should like to 

 point out that we generally treat these 

 birds from nestlings, which, being ignorant of 

 the happiness of a free life, cannot have the 

 morbid longing for freedom of an adult 

 wild bird. "Acme of cruelty" is therefore 

 not the expression for it. On such an 

 assumption, aviculture itself would be 

 inhuman. Our experience shows that the 

 Lark thrives well in captivity, sings as 

 vigorously as in freedom, and the percentage 

 of premature deaths in captivity is negli- 

 gible, proving that the bird itself does not 

 feel its captivity as a positive pain. 



The Bharat or the Indian Sky-Lark 



fAlauda gulgulaj is to be found everywhere 



in the Indian Empire including Ceylon and 



is abundant in our province. It 



bution ^^ ^'^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^® ^^ ^'^^ middle 



ranges of the Himalayas. In 

 winter, when the European Sky-Lark {A. 

 arvensis) comes down to the plains of the 

 north-western portions of India, both the 

 9 



