151 



SKY LAUK. 



LAVROCK. FIELD LARK. 

 PLATE LXXIV. FIG. I. 



Alauda arvensis, PENNANT. MONTAGU. 



" vulgaris, WILLUGHBT. RAT. 



THE nest is placed in a hollow scraped in the ground, with or without 

 the fortuitous shelter of a clod of earth or tuft of herbage. It is 

 placed in various situations, and is made of grasses, and a few chance 

 leaves, the coarser outside, the finer on the inner part. The male bird 

 appears to bring the materials to the spot, where the female is engaged 

 in arranging them. The young are hatched in about a fortnight; they 

 do not quit the nest until fairly fledged, but return to it to roost at 

 night for some time after they have left it. 



The eggs, three, four, or five in number, vary much both in form 

 and colour; some are of a greyish white colour, with a tinge of purple 

 or green, and freckled and mottled nearly all over with a darker shade 

 of grey, greyish brown, or brown; others are of a deep sombre hue, 

 and in some the chief part of the colour is concentrated at the larger 

 end, either wholly or only partially around it. They are usually placed 

 with their smaller ends towards the centre. 



