106 BIRDS OF CHESHIRE. 
feet above sea-level. Although the Skylark is absent 
from the bleak moorlands in winter, it may be met 
with in other parts of the county throughout the year. 
Brockholes was of the opinion that it is a partial 
migrant, as he used to see flocks in the autumn cross- 
ing the Dee Marshes in a southerly direction." 
We have heard the well-known song of the Skylark 
more than an hour before sunrise in May, and it is not 
infrequently continued until after dark. The song is 
not invariably uttered as the bird is soaring; we have 
often heard Larks singing on the ground, or whilst 
perching on a rail, hedge, or some tall weed in a field 
of young corn. 
The Skylark does not readily forsake its nest. In 
July 1887, Oldham flushed a bird from a nest in a field 
at Ringway, from which the hay had just been carried. 
The three eggs, which were in an advanced state of 
incubation, must have been laid before the grass was 
cut, and had only escaped destruction from the knife 
of the mowing-machine because the nest was placed in 
a furrow. 
CRESTED LARK. 
ALAUDA CRISTATA, Linnzeus. 
[A Crested Lark is stated to have been obtained 
near Macclesfield Grammar School in 1873. Dr. J. 
D. Sainter, who recorded the occurrence? adduced no 
evidence whatever to substantiate his identification ; 
and as the bird cannot now be traced, we think it 
inadvisable to include this species in a Cheshire avi- 
fauna. | 
1 Brockholes, op. cit. p. 7. 
2 Nature, vol. ix. p. 1382. 1873. 
