210 THE LARKS 



The performances of the woodlark are less generally known, 

 because this bird is much less plentiful, and more locally distributed. 

 Why this should be so is not easy of explanation. The remarkable 

 abundance of some species, and the comparative rarity of nearly 

 allied forms, even in localities apparently perfectly suited to their 

 needs, is a phenomenon deserving more careful consideration than it 

 has yet received. The dominance of one over the other cannot be 

 satisfactorily explained on the assumption that the one is crowded 

 out by the other, for, as in the case of the two species now under 

 consideration, the skylark and woodlark, the latter is nowhere 

 abundant, and, moreover, affects localities not favoured by the former. 

 It is, indeed, a peculiarly fastidious bird in the choice of its haunts. 

 The vicinity of trees appears to be indispensable ; but while in some 

 parts of the country it affects wooded parks or hedge-bound meadows 

 interspersed with copses, in others dry sheep-walks or the borders of 

 heaths suit its taste no less. At all times it is a "local" bird, in 

 spring and summer hardly straying two hundred yards from its nest- 

 ing territory. In winter, however, it assembles in small bands and 

 haunts the outskirts of woods, and during severe weather these bands 

 unite to form flocks of considerable size. 



But to return to the skylark. In its haunts it displays a far 

 wider adaptability to environment than is the case with the wood- 

 lark, and this may in part, at any rate, explain the numerical 

 superiority of the one over the other, since the species which can 

 occupy the most territory will of necessity have the best chance of 

 maintaining a high population. The skylark, then, is to be met with 

 in all kind of places, from the coast to the inland moors and moun- 

 tains. Preferring well-cultivated districts offering arable land, 

 meadows, and commons, in Ireland it is "the only bird commonly 

 seen on the desolate moors of Connemara and West Mayo, and it 

 breeds on many of the islands round the coast, even on the 

 Blaskets." 1 But it shuns the neighbourhood of woods, or where 



1 Ussher and Warren, Birds of Ireland, p. 100. 



