ALAUDA. 



situations ; but in winter they descend to 

 the ph> ns, and assemble in numerous 

 Hocks. In the former season they are 

 very lean, and in the latter very fat, as 

 they are always on the ground, and con- 

 stantly feeding. In mounting the air, they 

 ascend almost perpendicularly, by suc- 

 cessive springs, and hover at a great 

 height ; but in descending, they make an 

 oblique sweep, unless they are pursuedby 

 a ravenous bird, or attracted by a mate, 

 in either of which cases they fall like a 

 stone. These small birds, at the height 

 to which they soar, are liable to be waft- 

 ed by the wind ; and they have been ob- 

 served at sea, clinging to the masts and 

 cordage of ships. Sir Hans Sloane ob- 

 served some of them 40 miles from the 

 coast, and Count MarsigH met with them 

 on the Mediterranean. It is conjectured 

 that those which are found in America 

 have been driven thither by the wind. 

 Some have supposed, that they are birds 

 of passage, at least in the more southern 

 and milder climates of Europe ; but they 

 are occasionally concealed under some 

 rock or sheltered cave. The lark is found 

 iji all the inhabited parts of both conti- 

 nents, as far as the Cape of Good Hope ; 

 this bird, and the wood-lark, are the only 

 birds which sing whilst they fly. The high- 

 er it soars, the more it strains its voice, 

 and lowers it till it quite dies away in de- 

 scending. When it ascends beyond our 

 sight, its music is distinctly heard; and its 

 song, which is full of swells and falls, and 

 thus delightful for its variety, commences 

 before the earliest dawn. In a state of 

 freedom, the lark begins its song early 

 in the spring, which is its season of love 

 and pairing, and continues to warble 

 during the whole of the summer. The- 

 honourable Daincs Harrington reckons 

 this among the best of the singing larks ; 

 and as it copies the warble of every 

 other bird, he terms it a mocking-bird. 

 These birds, which are esteemed a deli- 

 cacy for the table, though Linnaeus thinks 

 the food improperfor gravelly complaints, 

 are taken with us, in the greatest num- 

 bers, in the neighbourhood of Dunstable. 

 The season begins about the 14th of 

 September, and ends the 25th of Febru- 

 ary ; and during this time, about 4000 

 dozen are caught, for supplying the Lon- 

 don markets. Those caught in the day 

 are taken in clap-nets, till the 14th of 

 November. But when the weather be- 

 comes gloomy, and also in the night, the 

 larker makes use of a trammel-net, 27 

 or 28 feet long, and five broad, which is 

 put on two poJes 18 feet long, and carried 



by men under each arm, Vho pass over 

 the fields, and quarter the grounds, as a 

 setting dog. When they see or feel a 

 lark strike the net, they drop it down, 

 and thus the birds are taken. The dark- 

 est nights are the most proper for their 

 sport ; and the net will not only take 

 larks, but all other birds that roost on 

 the ground ; among which are wood- 

 cocks, snipes, partridges, quails, field- 

 fares, and several others. In the depth 

 of winter, people sometimes take great 

 numbers of larks by nooses of horse-hair. 

 The method is this : take 100 or 200 

 yards of packthread; fasten at every six 

 inches a noose made of double horse-hair ; 

 at ever}' 20 yards the line is to be peg- 

 ged down to the ground, and so left rea- 

 dy to take them. The time to use this 

 is when the ground is covered with snow, 

 and the larks are to be allured to it by 

 some white oats, scattered among the 

 nooses. They will soon fly to them, and, 

 in eating, will be hung by the nooees. 

 They must be taken away as soon as 

 three or four are hung, otherwise the 

 rest will be frightened ; but though the 

 others are scared away just where the 

 sportsman comes, some will be feeding 

 at the other end of the line, and the sport 

 may be thus continued for a long time. 

 As the sky-lark is a kind of mocking-bird, 

 and apt to catch the note of any other 

 which hangs near it, even after its own 

 note is fixed, the bird-fanciers often place, 

 it next to one which has not been long 

 caught, in order to keep the caged sky- 

 lark honest. Plate II. Aves, fig. 1. 



2. A. arborea, wood-lark of English wri- 

 ters, is specifically characterised by a 

 white annular belt, encircling its head. 

 This bird is smaller than the sky-lark, 

 and of a shorter thicker form ; the co- 

 lours of the plumage are paler ; the first 

 feather of the wing is shorter than the 

 second ; the hind claw is very long and 

 somewhat bent ; it perches on trees; it 

 haunts the uncultivated tracts near copses, 

 without penetrating the woods, whence 

 its name ; its song resembles more the 

 warble of the nightingale, or the whist- 

 ling of the black-bird, than that of the 

 sky-lark, its note being less sonorous 

 and less varied, though not less sweet ; 

 and it is heard not only in the day, but 

 in the night, both when it flies and when 

 it sits on a bough. This bird builds on 

 the ground, and forms its nest on the 

 outside with moss, and on the inside with 

 dried bents, lined with a few hairs, and 

 conceals it with a turf; and the situation 

 it selects is ground where the grass is. 



