96 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



larks about your net is a gigg of feathers standing a 

 distance off, which twirleth swiftly round on the least 

 breath of wind. When the sun doth not shine, a fox- 

 tail pulled up within the compass of your net will make 

 the larks strike at it as if it were a weasel." The Sky- 

 Lark breeds commonly on the sand-hills, and on culti- 

 vated grounds it usually places its nest among the longer 

 tufts of grass in the pastures, taking considerable pains 

 at concealment. In summer it is the earliest morning 

 songster (the Blackbird being the next), and Blackwall 

 states that it sings from the 5th of February to the 16th 

 of July ; but I do not generally hear it very early in 

 the morning before the warm days which often occur 

 in April. Albinos are sometimes seen, though not 



and the working of them is called locally " simniin " or " siniblin." 

 The modus oj^erandi will be easily understood by reference to the 

 ilhistrations. Two live Larks, called brace-birds, are fixed, one 

 near each net and jnst outside, to one end of a lever which works 

 on a peg, called the brace-j^eg, and from the other end a cord runs 

 to the fowler's hand. A third cord is attached to the mill, which 

 is a small stand, with a piece of looking-glass and a red rag 

 fastened to it, and which revolves when the cord is pnlled. The 

 nets, the mesh of which is ten to the foot, are set on a bright 

 siinny day, with the wind blowing directly into the face of the 

 fowler. He sits on his empty box, and as soon as a Lark 

 approaches, begins to whistle ; its attention being attracted, he 

 makes the brace-birds flutter, and twirls the mill, and when the 

 wild bird has come sufficiently near, whether impelled by curiosity 

 or what, the nets are rapidly pulled over, and the prize secured. 

 In favourable weather, an average of eight or ten dozen a day, of 

 which about eighty per cent, will be alive, can be taken ; Septem- 

 ber and October being the only months in which birds " strike," as 

 it is called, well. They are sold for from Is. 3d. to Is. 6d. per 

 dozen, but cock-birds kept till after Christinas will fetch as much 

 as 6s. per dozen, the destiny of these being the cage. Early in the 

 season it is noticed that the Larks are smaller altogether than later 

 (cf. Gray, " Birds of West of Scotland," 1871, pp. 122-23), but the 

 fowlers profess to be always able to distinguish the cocks by their 

 larger size. 



