OUR RARER BIRDS 



even the same dead branch on some particular tree is used 

 for a perching-place as before, and the nest is built on the 

 same bit of ground as it was the preceding season. This I 

 find almost invariably to be the case in places where the 

 birds are left unmolested. In the boisterous March days I 

 often see the Wood Lark chase its mate with great rapidity 

 over the tall bushes, warbling hurriedly all the time ; and 

 sometimes two rival males will vie with each other in trying 

 to gain the affections of a female, crouching low down in the 

 herbage, listening, as it were, to the clear tuneful melody 

 poured forth for her own special advantage. The nest is built 

 in various situations, sometimes very much exposed, but more 

 often artfully concealed under the shelter of a bush or 

 behind a tuft of coarse grass. You may sometimes find it 

 cunningly hidden under a mass of briars through which the 

 coarse herbage grows luxuriantly, and by way of contrast to 

 such a situation it may occasionally be seen wedged tightly 

 in the footprint of a horse or a cow amongst the short turf 

 in a bare part of the park. It is a simple structure, made 

 externally of coarse grass and moss, and lined with finer 

 grasses and a little hair. In many nests the latter material 

 is omitted, the birds not being able to obtain it. The eggs 

 are four or five in number, and differ considerably from those 

 of the Sky Lark. They are huffish or greenish- white in 

 ground colour, spotted with reddish-brown and paler markings 

 of violet-gray. The character of the markings varies a good 

 deal, but generally the eggs in a nest resemble each other. 

 Some eggs are evenly marked over the entire surface; in 

 others the spots are collected in a zone or circular patch on 

 the large end or in a band round the middle. The collector 

 will find that in the eggs of the Wood Lark the ground colour 

 is much more distinct and the markings more clearly defined 

 than in those of the Sky Lark. They are also on an average 

 rather smaller than those of the latter bird. As is the case 



