THE LARKS. 53 



shivering in the blast, or melting in the sun, from neither of which 

 can it seek shelter, when still, as it would in a wild state. But we 

 have kept our sweet warbler waiting, while we have been pleading his 

 cause with the thoughtless, who are often not intentionally cruel, for, 

 as Thomas Hood says, 



"Evil is wrought for want of thought, 

 As much as for want of heart." 



According to Stevenson, the Wood Lark is by no means common 

 in Norfolk, although it is known to breed there. Thompson includes 

 it in his "Birds of Ireland;" but Macgillivray knows it not as a bird 

 of his own northern land. On the continent it is chiefly found in 

 France, Holland, Italy, Greece, and other parts of the Levant, where 

 it is a constant resident. The Danes, Swedes, and Russians know it 

 only as a summer visitor. It has been found in Asia Minor : and what 

 is it like ? Why very much indeed like the common Sky Lark, so 

 much so that one can scarcely detect the difference ; the slight points of 

 divergence are smallness of size, the length of this species being about 

 six inches, while that of "the Ethereal Minstrel" is about six inches 

 and a half. Then this one has a more slender bill, a shorter hind 

 claw, and a somewhat differently shaped wing; the crest feathers are 

 longer; there is a redder tint in the plumage of the upper parts of 

 the body, and the whole of the under parts are yellowish, instead of 

 brownish, while the dark spots on the lighter neck and throat are 

 drawn out more into lines. 



Always is the nest of this bird built on the ground, commonly in 

 a thick tuft of herbage, or under a low bush; it is not often found 

 near to houses, neither is it usually in woods or copses, although 

 generally near to such leafy covert as the bird delights in. Several 

 curious deviations from the usual nesting habits of the bird have been 

 observed ; the chosen spot in one case was a slight cavity in the trunk 

 of an aged oak tree, which had recently been cut down ; it was close 

 by a hedge, on the other side of which was the road, and was well 

 concealed from observation by tall grass, which had grown up around 

 the fallen monarch of the wood. In another case it was the bottom 

 of a lawn near to a residence, in the long grass by a low sheep-shed ; 

 the old bird when discovered left the nest and feigned death, but made 

 off through the grass when an attempt to capture her was made. Yet 

 another was under a dead fence in a park, near by where the wood- 

 man's axe was constantly going, and labourers and others passing to 

 and fro. 



