WOOD LARK 



PLATE LXXIII. 

 Alauda ar&orea, . PENNANT. MONTAGU. BEWICK. 



THE nest is placed upon the ground, beneath some 

 low bush or tuft of grass, or at the foot of a tree ; 

 occasionally under the shelter of a fence or paling, or on 

 a bank. The outside materials are small roots, grass, and 

 sometimes moss, and the lining smaller grasses, with occa- 

 sionally a little hair. 



The authors of the " Birds of Devon " write : " We one 

 day discovered a nest of a Wood Lark in an open ferny 

 field, and did not take it. The next time we passed the 

 spot we found that the birds had erected a dome of ferns 

 very skilfully above the nest for extra concealment." 



The eggs, which are laid at the end of March or be- 

 ginning of April, and also in July there seeming to be 

 two broods in the year are four or five in number, of a 

 pale greenish - white or yellowish - brown ground colour, 

 spotted and speckled with dull reddish-brown, or dark grey 

 or brownish grey, with sometimes a few irregular dusky lines 

 at the larger end. 



VOL. i. 



161 



