96 Pkacticai. Bird-Keeping. 



of canary-seed and two or three mealworms, smooth caterpillars, 

 or spiders daily, constitute the most suitable diet for caged Larks ; 

 a fresh clovery turf, a little groundsel, chickweed, or chopped 

 lettuce should also be given when obtainable. 



As these birds do not wash, but dust themselves after the 

 manner of fowls, they should have abundance of fine fresh sand, 

 in which to perform their cleansing operations. Being subject 

 in their natural state to showers, it does not hurt them to occasion- 

 ally sprinkle them with a fine syringe ; but as they are unable, 

 unless kept in a spacious aviary, to get sufiicient exercise to dry 

 them rapidly and restore them to their normal temperature, it is 

 not advisable to overdo that sort of thing ; and the safer plan, in 

 my opinion, is to abstain from the practice altogether. 



Unless you possess both sexes of a species and desire to 

 breed from them, Larks are far better kept in cages than aviaries ; 

 in the former they not only sing much more frequently, but they 

 can be better attended to. The cage should not, as a rule, be 

 lofty ; and, for recently acquired birds, which are nervous and 

 liable to spring recklessly upwards at the risk of concussion or a 

 broken skull, the roof should be of canvas ; for well-established 

 birds however this is unnecessary, and then it may either be 

 of wire or wicker-work, the latter being preferable. For the 

 common Skylark I found the ordinary runner-cage, two feet in 

 length, about seven inches in width and nine in height, with a 

 central door, most suitable : I used to turf one end, thickly sand 

 the other, hang food and water on the front and put a small pan 

 of canary-seed inside. 



The Chinese cage for thick-billed Larks is circular with a 

 central one-legged table upon which the bird mounts to sing : 

 the only objection to this cage is that it is not large enough to 

 give the inmate much exercise : I therefore got the late Mr. 

 Abrahams to have a special cage constructed for my Mongolian 

 Lark ; it was of the waggon pattern, with overarched willow bars 

 and a sufficient depth of wood to enable me to cover the floor 

 with abundance of sand ; the back and ends were of wood and 

 the length of the cage two feet: a movable slip in front admitted 

 a scraper for cleansing the floor, and the sand was poured in 

 through the top bars : food and water pans slid in from the front 



