136 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



The lark, during the summer months, is decidedly 

 unsocial; for though we may meet with two or 

 three pairs in the same field, we seldom find their 

 nests near each other. They are not quarrelsome 

 and pugnacious, like the redbreasts, but they seem 

 to prefer a secluded spot to a crowded neighbour- 

 hood. The young larks, after leaving their nest, 

 seem equally unsocial, and do not, like most nest- 

 lings, keep together in a band, but prefer to wander 

 about the field by themselves, though this must in- 

 crease the trouble of their parents in bringing them 

 food. Yet these seemingly unsocial birds, as soon 

 as the breeding season is fully over, flock together 

 in numbers almost incredible, and have then been 

 caught for the table in most countries of Europe 

 from the earliest times, as in Greece, Italy, and 

 England. The numbers taken in France may be 

 guessed at from the account of Montbeillard, who 

 says, " a hundred dozen or more are sometimes 

 taken at once, and it is reckoned very bad sport 

 when only twenty-five dozen are got." 



What we have said of larks will nearly apply to 

 linnets, chaffinches, the two house-swallows, and 

 several other species, which breed in solitary pairs, 

 and congregate at the approach of winter. It is 

 worthy of remark, that most, if not all, of these 

 broods are more or less migratory, either leaving 

 the country altogether, or shifting from one district 

 to another ; and, looking at the facts in this point 

 of view, we may plausibly conjecture that the 

 young broods take advantage of the experience of 

 the older birds in removing to a more genial cli- 

 mate, or to places more abounding in food. 



