SKY LARK. 477 



in pairs during summer, Sky Larks are gregarious in winter, 

 assembling in vast flocks on the open country, where thou- 

 sands are taken for the table by dragging a net over the 

 stubbles, and other short cover, among which the poor 

 birds shelter themselves. At this time they are in excel- 

 lent condition, even during severe frost, the low temperature 

 of the season probably checking cutaneous transpiration, 

 and inducing a deposit of fat ; but should a fall of snow 

 cover the ground, their condition is altered for the worse 

 in a few days. It appears from the following remarks of 

 Mr. Woolnough, of Hollesley, on the coast of Suffolk, 

 that these birds frequently migrate into this country from 

 the Continent in autumn :* " I have frequently seen them 

 come flying off the sea ; not in one year, but in several, 

 and for many hours on the same day, from five to ten, to 

 forty and fifty in a flock. This I once observed in No- 

 vember for three days in succession : our fields were then 

 covered with Larks, to the great destruction of the late- 

 sown wheat." The Rev. Richard Lubbock, among other 

 notices of the birds of Norfolk with which he has favoured 

 me, says, " I can entirely corroborate the migration of 

 these birds to our coast in the autumn, as mentioned in 

 the Linnean Transactions. On Caistor Point, near Yar- 

 mouth, I have more than once witnessed the arrival of 

 Larks from the sea, precisely as there described." During 

 severe weather in winter, large flocks of Larks are ob- 

 served in some inland counties, and particularly in the 

 southern counties, of England, flying to the westward. 



The Sky Lark is universally distributed over the British 

 Islands, but in severe weather in winter, accompanied 

 with snow, a large portion leave Scotland in flocks to come 

 southward. In Orkney and Shetland it is only a summer 

 visitor, according to Mr. Dunn, retiring to a more southern 

 * Linn. Trans, vol. xv. p. 22. 



