ALAUDA ARBOREA. 387 



[at another place] a cock Woodlark in an evident state of alarm. A. watched 

 it as it sat on a [Scotcli-fir] tree, while I walked about to look for the nest, 

 which I was not long in finding, as the hen flew wildly off before I got 

 within ten yards of her. The nest was about eight yards from the old bank 

 of the furze-covert.''J 



[§ 2034. Foifr.—EUedGn, 7 April, 1859. "A. & E. N." 



My brother wrote : '" I have several times this spring seen a pair of Wood- 

 larks on the Glebe lands. Yesterday A. and I walked there and soon found 

 them feeding on the old bank by the side of the [Scotch-fir] plantation. 

 From the manner of the hen it became evident that she had a nest, and after 

 watching them for about twenty minutes, they both got up and flew towards 

 another plantation. I was able to mark one of them down directly, but the 

 other dropped without either of us clearly seeing it, and we could not find it 

 even with the aid of a glass. The one I marked down remained on the bank 

 by the side of the covert for some two or three minutes and then flew away, 

 apparently singing as he went, but we were the wrong way for the wind to 

 be able to hear him. On walking to where we believed the hen had alighted, 

 it was not very difficult to determine where the nest was, as there was only 

 one tuft of grass that looked tempting. She allowed us to approach within 

 a yard before she flew oft". The eggs were fresh."] 



[^ 2035. Fo^^r.— Elveden, 16 April, 1859. " A. & E. N." 



My brother's note is : " We watched a pair of Woodlarks, and felt certain 

 that they had a nest. After a few minutes the hen flew round a clump of 

 [Scotch-fir] trees and we lost her. On walking to the place where we 

 thought she had alighted, A. almost trod on her as she sat on her nest, which 

 was about ten yards from the clump. The eggs had been incubated but a few 

 hours. In March we found a Woodlark 's nest [not far off], but for some 

 reason the birds forsook it before any eggs were laid, and on this 16th April 

 we found a destroyed nest [close by], both of which, I think, had belonged to 

 this pair of birds."] 



[§ 2036. i^o?/r.— Elveden, 16 April, 1859. "A. & E. N." 



My bruther's note is : " These were found by a dog, who probably put the 

 bird off, but we did not see her, and our attention was drawn by the dog 

 smelling in a tuft of heather. Luckily she did not break the eggs. We had 

 seen a hen Woodlark but a few minutes before."] 



[§ 2037. O^e.—Fi-om the late Mr. Scales's Collection, 1885. 



I keep this egg to remind me of the fact that in one of his letters to me he 

 told me he had never known the Woodlark to breed in Norfolk.] 



