112 FIELD-STUDIES OF RARER BIRDS 



parts of Norfolk and Suffolk very noted spots are 

 those grassy strips bordering the lines of pine trees 

 which engirt the warrens, or newly-sown spinneys 

 of saplings and hushes close to the same, in which 

 case the nest is frequently placed right at the base 

 of one of the seedlings. 



Whatever the haunt, trees seem indispensable 

 to the species, and if the site is on a slope, a 

 westerly, sou '-westerly, or southerly aspect is, as 

 a rule, selected. The same haunt is in vogue each 

 succeeding year a habit which suggests that the 

 species pairs for life but not invariably the 

 identical spot in that haunt, though, all the same, 

 this year's nest is frequently within a hundred 

 yards or less of that of last season. 



Although not gregarious during the breeding- 

 season, the Wood-Lark even then evinces so much 

 sociability that it is comparatively unusual to 

 encounter solitary pairs : in fact, of times from three 

 to six pairs frequent a favourite area, though, even 

 then, so local is the species that the next recognised 

 breeding-haunt may be miles away. I know of 

 one or two highly favoured localities where from 

 twelve to twenty pairs nest annually inside the 

 radius of not many acres. Even in such a rare 

 case, two nests are seldom found really close 

 together, each pair possessing, as it were, a vested 

 right in a certain small portion of ground. Never- 

 theless, in haunts like these, where the bird is 

 plentiful, it is nothing unusual to see and hear 



