2/8 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



harvesting operations, the farmer has scattered over 

 the surface in profusion. The Wood Lark (Alauda 

 arborea), whose song is more highly esteemed by 

 many persons than that of the Sky Lark, is not 

 uncommon with us, but it is much less numerous 

 here than the latter species, and much more local. 

 Scarcely a season passes but we meet with its nest on 

 the ground among grass in Uppark and Lady Holt 

 Park, at which time the bird may, of course, be fre- 

 quently seen and heard ; but we have particularly 

 noticed that, although in its musical soarings it not 

 unfrequently passes and repasses the boundaries of 

 the parks, it seldom strays far from either in the 

 breeding season. On the other hand, large flocks of 

 them may be seen towards the end of winter, before 

 they have selected their several summer homes. 



Our Tit family is represented by five species : the 

 Ox-eye Tit (Parus Fringillago), the Blue Tit (Parus 

 c<zruleus\ the Coal Tit (Partis ater], the Marsh Tit 

 (Parus pakistris\ and the Long-tailed Tit (Mecistura 

 longicaudata\ all, except the last, very similar in their 

 nidification and habits. The Marsh Tit appears to be 

 less numerous than its congeners ; but the Ox-eye, 

 whose song in spring so charmingly emulates the 

 exhilarating sounds produced by sharpening the teeth 

 of a saw, must not be dismissed without an extract 

 from the letters already alluded to, in one of which we 

 find the following reference to this species : " I need 

 not say that the Great Tit is, here, as elsewhere, a very 

 important member of Ornithological Society, whether 

 among the beechwoods in the Park, the scattered ash 

 and thorns of the Upland waste, the orchards in the 

 valley, or the willow stumps bordering the ponds and 

 streams ; and that he frequently shows himself inde- 

 pendent of the simple instinct which appears to limit 

 the choice of nesting places in many other birds. A 

 decayed tree, a hole in the wall or thatch, an old hat 

 on a scarcecrow, a space under the eaves, suit him 



