I04 British Birds, 



move both eggs and young to a safer place, by grasping 

 them with the long prehensile claws of their feet. — 

 Fig, 2^, plate III. 



WOOD LARK— (^/^2/t/^ arhored). 



The Sky Lark is seen everywhere ; on the moors 

 here in small parties, on the Saltings in Essex and 

 other southern counties, in our meadows and corn- 

 fields all over the kingdom. The Wood Lark, on the 

 other hand, is strictly local, though sufficiently abund- 

 ant where it does occur. I knew in one case, where 

 a shot was fired at a lot of Larks in the snow, that 

 out of five or six which were killed, all but one proved 

 to be Wood Larks. So local is it, that though I have 

 been a resident in Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, 

 Herefordshire, Berwickshire, and Yorkshire, as well 

 as a visitor in other counties, I have never lived 

 among or near its haunts, saving only in the western- 

 most county named. The nest is formed on the 

 ground, usually well concealed by grass or a neigh- 

 bouring scrubby bush, and is composed of dry grass and 

 moss, and lined with fibres and a few hairs. The 

 eggs are four or five in number, of a lighter ground- 

 colour (but scarcely less in size) than those of the Sky 

 Lark, vary very little comparatively in their general 

 appearance, and often in addition to the ash-brown or 

 greenish hue of the superficial f recklings and mottlings, 

 are marked by the presence of a few wine-red blotches. 

 The young ai'e much sought for to keep in cages, as 

 they soon begin to sing very freely. The song of the 

 Wood Lark in a state of nature is one of the sweetest 



