PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 201 



among grass or growing crops, and built of stalks and bents, lined with finer 

 grasses and generally hair. (PL vni.) It is constructed by the hen, the cock 

 bringing the materials. Eggs usually 3 or 4, but in some districts (such as 

 the Outer Hebrides) often 5 in number. They are greyish, greenish, or 

 brownish white, mottled thickly with olive-brown and grey. In some cases 

 there is a distinct cap or zone of dark markings at the big end. Varieties 

 are white, without markings, and ferruginous. (PI. B.) Average size of 190 eggs, 

 91 x -66 in. [23-21 x 16-83 mm.]. Few birds lay before the latter half of April 

 in England, and some not till May, but as two or three broods are reared, 

 eggs may be found till July. Incubation lasts 14 days ; apparently by the 

 hen. alone. [F. c. B. J.] 



5. Food. The food of the skylark is partly animal and partly vegetable: 

 worms, insects (including many economically harmful ones), spiders, etc. ; seeds 

 of many kinds, grass, turnip-leaves, and similar matter. The young are fed by 

 both sexes on insects. [A. L. T.] 



6. Song Period. The regular period is from the end of January to the 

 end of July. The song is resumed in September, and continued into November, 

 up to the 25th to my knowledge, and probably later on fine days. It has 

 been heard in the second and third weeks of January (C. and H. Alexander, 

 British Birds, i. p. 370; Zoologist, 1845, p. 1068; id., 1851, p. 3111). [F. B. K.] 



WOOD LARK [Alauda arborea, Linnaeus. French, alouette lulu; German, 

 Heidelerche ; Italian, tottavilla}. 



i. Description. Resembles the skylark in its general coloration, but may 

 be distinguished from it by naving the outermost (10th) primary well developed, 

 the outer pair of tail feathers not white, but smoky brown, and an oblique black 

 mark on the inner web. It is also smaller, has a smaller and weaker beak, a shorter 

 tail, the crest more distinct, and a whitish eyebrow. (PI. 24.) Length 5 in. 

 [139 mm.]. The hen differs only* in being usually smaller, duller in plumage, 

 more flecked, and shorter in the wing. After the autumn moult the general 

 tone of the plumage is rather more rufous. The coloration of the adult varies : 

 some have a distinct chestnut hue above, and a tinge of sulphur below: others 

 much greyer above and white below. The young, up to the first moult, may be 

 distinguished from the parents by the white tips to the crown and back feathers, 

 while the scapulars, inner secondaries, and major coverts of the primaries have 

 white outer margins, [w. p. p.] 



