230 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



About a fortnight is the usual incubation period, and 

 the young are therefore hatched at no very advanced stage. 

 In fact, they are always blind and helpless at first, and 

 have only a few wisps of downy feathers. These grow 

 from the tips of the still buried time feathers. The 

 true feathers soon 'sprout,' and the- feather-tracks may be 

 well seen for a time ; but the feathers grow quickly and 

 soon cover the whole surface, although throughout life they 

 grow only from these definite tracts. The early down- 

 feathers are borne on the tips of the others for a time, 

 but soon fall off. In about three weeks the chick has 

 reached its full size, and completed its first plumage. 

 It then leaves the nest and makes its first feeble attempts 

 at flight. It learns quickly and is soon independent of its 

 parents for food. Often they rear a second, and some- 

 times a third, brood before the season is over. 



The Skylark itself is not a very typical Passerine. It 

 makes a slight nest on the ground, and lays from 

 three to five eggs of a protective gray and brown hue. 

 Two broods are reared in a season. With its appearance, 

 song, and general habits every one is familiar. It is a 

 frequenter of the lowland open lands, waste or cultivated. 

 There it is found throughout the year in almost every 

 corner of the British Isles ; but the individuals are migra- 

 tory in marked degree, and their movements to, from, and 

 within om- area are of an extremely complex natui-e. 



THE WOOD=LARK 



(Alauda arborea). 



The Wood-Lark breeds very locally in England and 

 Wales, and has nested in the east of Ireland. It may 

 be distinguished by its smaller size, less pronounced crest, 

 shorter tail, and the broad huffish - white eye - streaks. 



