626 ALAUDID^. 



possible connexion with the fact that this species feeds less 

 on seeds than most of its family, for the Woodlark's habits 

 have hitherto been very insufficiently studied, and even its 

 distribution throughout the British Islands cannot, for want 

 of materials, be precisely set forth. It is emphatically a 

 local bird — in the spring and summer hardly straying two 

 hundred yards from the spot which it has selected for its 

 nest, and at all times except when in the act of migration 

 restricting itself to some particular place, where year after 

 year it may be observed at the proper season. Perhaps the 

 best account of the species, the writer's whims apart, is that 

 given by Neville Wood (British Song Birds, pp. 259-271), 

 but his observations only refer to Derbyshire, and do not 

 apply to some other parts of England, where its habits, in 

 several respects, are very different. He describes it as being 

 resident throughout the year, and most easily observed in 

 winter on account of the nudity of the trees at that season, 

 when it becomes particularly lively, assembling in small 

 flocks and haunting the outskirts of woods in low and 

 sheltered, but not marshy, spots. During the cold weather 

 it keeps very close and may be seen diligently seeking its 

 food beneath the trees or bushes, but a gleam of sunshine 

 disperses the band, and it may then be met with alone or in 

 pairs on the high ground and the arable lands, while wdth 

 the return of frost it reassembles as before. Early in March 

 it again disperses and during the spring and summer it 

 partakes equally of ground and woodland habits, but it is at 

 all times, says Wood, a shy species and one with which inti- 

 mate acquaintance is not easily made. In the western part of 

 Norfolk and Suffolk, about Thetford, the Woodlark is not un- 

 common, but there it is strictly migratory, appearing very early 

 in the year with the first decidedly open weather, and remaining 

 until August when it ordinarily departs, though occasionally 

 a few examples may be seen in autumn. In this district it 

 is almost exclusively limited to certain spots of light soil 

 which are close to old plantations of Scotch firs, and from 

 the partiality shewn to such localities it may perhaps be 

 rightly inferred to be but a comparatively recent colonist, 



