126 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



LETTER XII. 



Un mauant au miroir prenait des oisillons, 

 Le fantome brillant attire une alouette." 



LA FONTAINE. 



Netting and Killing Larks near Brighton Two Modes 

 Autumnal Migration " Chasse au miroir " De- 

 scriptive Sketch Lark-netting in the Winter 

 Mode of Capture Dark Nights " Experientia 

 docet." 



THERE are two modes of killing larks in the 

 neighbourhood of Brighton which are worth 

 noticing. The one lucrative, and adopted by 

 professional birdcatchers ; attended moreover with 

 a certain degree of labour and hardship, and re- 

 quiring some skill and perseverance : the other a 

 comparatively idle occupation, or amusement, and 

 as repugnant to the feelings of the true sportsman 

 as are the piscatory achievements of a punt- 

 anchored cockney to the salmon-fisher of Con- 

 nemara ! Nevertheless, as an indulgence in this 

 pastime is very general during three or four weeks 

 in the year, and as it involves the consideration 

 of a peculiar instinct or habit in the bird itself, 



