THE WOOD-LARK 111 



relinquish even the vicinity of their spring- and 

 summer-quarters, migrating either to the lowest- 

 lying grounds of the Principality, or even pene- 

 trating far into the Marches. 



Whilst the Wood-Lark usually evinces a 

 partiality and preference for warm, light, dry, and 

 sandy soils, some of its breeding-spots this being 

 particularly noticeable in Wales are of the very 

 reverse order, the ground there being spongy, 

 cold, and more or less moist. I have, indeed, on 

 several occasions chanced on the nest in the 

 dubiously-driest part of a swampy field decked here 

 and there with tussocks of rushy-grass", and in one 

 regular resort, with which I am intimate (a real 

 marshy meadow, it is), Snipe breed as well. All 

 the same, a favourite and normal situation 

 especially in Cambria is a gently undulating hill, 

 or the lower declivities of a loftier one, the sides 

 of which luxuriate in bracken, boulders, and 

 brambles, and which are here and there orna- 

 mented with clumps of trees, straggling trees, 

 woods, or plantations. In such a spot, besides 

 Wood-Larks, I have found breeding Nightjars, 

 Tree-Pipits, Meadow-Pipits, Wheatears, Linnets, 

 and once a Cirl Bunting. On lowlier ground, 

 meadows bordered by trees, or even meadows with 

 a few trees only in their hedgerows, are patronized ; 

 the outskirts of a wood, or a well-timbered park ; 

 while elsewhere, heaths and commons studded 

 with trees are in favour with the Wood -Lark. In 



