THE LARKS 1593 



alive by boys, who take advantage of their feeble flight to capture them 

 when exhausted, after a short but persistent chase. In confinement the skylark 

 retains its kindly character, a fact well known to bird dealers, who often place an 

 old skylark in a cage with a brood of young birds, knowing by experience that 

 the former is sure to take compassion upon the helpless nestlings. The young 

 birds reared from the nest become exceedingly attached to their owners, and readily 

 acquire the notes of any bird under whose tuition they may be placed. Such birds 

 as are captured adult, and in open weather, are, however, apt to pine over the loss of 

 their liberty; but those that are caught when deep snow is lying on the ground are 

 more susceptible of domestication, and soon begin to sing. The eggs of the sky- 

 lark are white in ground color, thickly blotched and freckled with brown and gray 

 Young birds may be found in the nest at any time from April to September. Sky- 

 larks do not wash, but delight in cleansing their plumage by dusting their feathers 

 in dry earth; this being done in order to remove ticks or other parasites that may be 

 adhering to them. On their migrations, skylarks often appear at the lighthouses in 

 dense hordes, and vast numbers are killed upon the island of Heligoland. Although 

 the song is principally uttered during the spring and summer months, we have often 

 heard wild larks singing in snatches in November, and in the Highlands the sky- 

 lark begins to sing in summer about an hour before daybreak. 



The food of the skylark consists of the seeds of oats, wheat, barley, and wild 

 plants, together with such insects as it meets with in the plowed fields. In plum- 

 age these birds are subject to considerable variation, so much so as to constitute 

 local races. Black, white, and cream-colored varieties occur occasionally, but only 

 in very small numbers in comparison with the abundance of birds in ordinary plum- 

 age. The adult has the upper parts brown, tinged more or less with rufous, many 

 of the feathers having dark centres; the wings are dark brown, the primaries being 

 narrowly edged with white on the outer webs; the tail is brown, with the exception 

 of the outer feathers, which are nearly all white; the throat and breast are buff, 

 streaked with brown; and the rest of the under surface creamy white. Both sexes 

 are alike. 



Although formerly included in the same genus with the skylark, 

 the woodlark (Lullula arbored] is now very generally referred to a 

 genus apart, of which it is the sole representative. It may be readily distinguished 

 from the former by its shorter tail, more distinctly marked breast, and by a distinct 

 light streak over the eye and ear coverts, while its size is considerably smaller. It 

 is figured in the illustration on p. 1592. Unlike the skylark, which frequents open 

 country, the woodlark prefers fields that border upon woods, "in localities," 

 writes Mr. Dresser, ' ' where the soil is sandy and partially covered with second 

 growth, large trees being sparsely scattered here and there; this species is generally 

 numerous but it does not frequent the dense forest. In its habits it is lively and 

 sprightly, fond of the society of its congeners, and not quarrelsome, but rather more 

 shy than the skylark. It frequents the ground far more than is commonly supposed, 

 and, indeed, only perches occasionally upon the outer branches, chiefly during the 

 breeding season, when singing. It seeks its food almost always, if not solely, on 

 the ground, and runs with celerity and ease. It roosts on the ground in open places 



