THE LARKS. 313 



trills. During spring and autumn it does not sing, and 

 conceals itself from its pursuer behind a stone, or in a hole 

 in the ground ; and it is only when flushed, and during its 

 flight from one place to another, that it emits a short trrril, 

 or tillirl, in the autumn, and tjui terrr, in the spring. It 

 lies very close, and I have several times come within a couple 

 of fathoms of it before it has taken wing. It lives on insects 

 and seeds. It breeds always near to the sea- coast, and 

 except during migration, which commences at the end of 

 August, is never seen in the interior of the country." 



The Sky-Lark (Sdng-Larka, or Song-Lark, Sw. ; A. 

 arvensis, Linn.) was very common with us during the 

 summer months. It is also common in all the cultivated 

 districts of Scandinavia, from Scania to far within the polar 

 circle. M. Malm met with it in abundance near to Kare- 

 suando in northern Lapmark, and tells us one was shot on 

 the 15th of October, 1841, near to the church of Utsjoki, 

 which is at no great distance from the Icy Sea. Though the 

 larger portion of these birds migrate, some, I suspect, winter 

 occasionally in the south of Sweden. I judge so, at least, 

 from having once seen considerable numbers of them in the 

 fields near to Gothenburg, only a few days before Christmas. 



Of all the migratory birds common to Sweden, the sky- 

 lark is the earliest to arrive in the spring at times so early 

 as January ; and being thus the harbinger of that joyous 

 season, the first carried to the royal palace at Stockholm is, 

 agreeably to an ancient custom, paid for in gold. 



The song of this bird recalls to the mind the distich of 

 Taubmann : 



Ecce ! suiim tirili, tirili, tiritirliri tractim 

 Candida per vemum caiitat alauda solum. 



