62 THEBKTLARE. 



in vast numbers, while Covering and screaming :ver th« 

 place. Sometimes straw is used for the same purpose, 

 being preyiously strewed near the reeds and alder bushel^ 

 where they are known to roost, which being instantly sel 

 on fire, the consternation and havoc are prodigious ; and the 

 party return by day to pick up the slaughtered game. 

 About the first of November, they begin to move off towards 

 the south ; though, near the sea-coast, in the states of New 

 Jersey and Delaware they continue long after that period. 



THE SKYLARK. (Alauda arveims.) 



One of the most celebrated of all the English birds is the 

 Skylark. His music being associated with the rural em- 

 ployments and pleasures of that enlightened and refined 

 nation, has occasioned his being described in rapturous 

 tenns by their poets and novelists. 



The Skylark is generally distinguished from most other 

 birds, by the long spur on his back toe, the earthy colour 

 of his feathers, and by singing as he mounts up in the air. 

 The common Skylark i* not much bigger than the hous^ 

 sparrow. These birds generally make their nest in meadows 

 among the high grass, and the tint of their plumage resembles 

 BO much that of the ground, that the body of the bird is 

 luurdly distinguishable as it hops along. 



