THE SKYLARK 



THE SKYLARK. 



IT seems almost su- 

 perfluous to give a 

 .word of description 

 concerning this well- 

 known and almost 

 universally distributed 

 song bird. The upper 

 parts of the Lavrock, 

 as it is sometimes 

 called, are of varying 

 shades of brown, the 

 darkest being in the centres 

 of the feathers, and the 

 lightest on their edges. The 

 under parts are pale straw colour, tinged 

 in parts with brown and spotted on the 

 breast with a dark hue of that colour. 

 It is about seven inches in length, and, 

 as most of my readers will have noticed, 

 has a greatly elongated hind claw. This 

 interesting provision of Nature acts the 

 useful part of a snow-shoe during severe 

 weather in the winter. 



Although it leaves its higher breeding 

 71 



