98 PKACTiCAr, Bird-Keeping. 



itely in his account of the nesting of the Black Lark. Soiled 

 hay seems to have been preferred for the nest ; not I should 

 imagine to render the latter less conspicuous, but because it 

 would be easier to mould than when fresh and stiff. 



Many 5'ears experience in bird-nesting convinced me that 

 birds selected such suitable materials as were nearest to hand, 

 without considering whether the use of these would render their 

 homes conspicuous or the reverse : the only Chaffinch nest which 

 I ever found completely covered outside with grey-white lichen 

 was placed in an elm-hedge skirting a wood and was so glaringly 

 conspicuous that no passer bj' could possibh' fail to notice it : 

 the lichen had been obtained from a tree a few feet behind in 

 the wood. This is not an isolated instance ; the nest of the 

 Long-tailed Tit is frequently a prominent object in a roadside 

 hedge, and consequently tempts the young clodhopper to exhibit 

 his destructive instincts. 



In the foregoing observations I have dealt chiefly with 

 those Larks which spend a considerable part of their existence 

 upon the earth or near it, but there are others, such as the Wood- 

 lark, which often settle upon the tops of hedges or the branches 

 of trees, and for these it is necessarj'' to provide loftier cages 

 supplied with perches for their use during the daytime : at night, 

 like other larks they rest upon the ground. Even a Skylark can 

 settle upon a branch, and one which I kept in an aviary frequently 

 did so, but it looks awkward in that position with its long hind 

 claw pointing straight downwards. 



