Till -A')-/ \HK. 



ni..tli.-r l>inl laid li.-rs.-lf ll:,t ii].<>n the ground, with outsprmd wings and tall, while the 

 bin! took OEM 0< the yOttag OOl <>f the ni*t, and In .lint ..f pushing and pulling, got It ' 

 mc.tii.-i'- i.:i. k. sin- 1 1 1, -M tl< \\ith h.-r \ ming one ow the floMi, and soon returns I for 



aiioth.-i. Tliis tiin.-, tin- fath.-r t<K>k his nnn to carry one of the offspring, being assisted by 

 th.- tiiotli.-r in -retting it firnily on his !uk ; unl in this ni.n.n.-r they carried off the whole 

 brotxl Ix for. tin- mowers had reached their nest. This IB not a instance, a* I am 



acquaint.. 1 with on.- inure example of this inc'-nious mode of shifting the young, > 

 parent-birds feared that their nest was discovered, and carried the brood into some sUi 

 wlieat. 



Mr. Yarrell, moreover, mentions that the Lurk has been seen in the act of carrying away 

 her young in h-r claws, but not on her bark as in the previous instance. Perhai* th- lord 

 would learn the art of carriage by exi-ri.'in .-. for the poor little lord was dropped from the 

 claws of its parent, and falling from a lu-ight f nearly thirty feet, was killed by the shock. 

 It was a bird some eight or ten days old. Th.- I^irk has also been known to carry away its 

 eggs when threatened by danger, gra>]>inir tli.-ni with Ix.th feet. 



The nest of the Sky-lark is always placed mi the ground, and generally in *oine link 

 depression, such as the imprint of a horse's hoof, the side of a nml*hill, or the old furrow 

 of a plough. It is very well concealed, the top of the nest being only just on a l.n.-l with tho 

 surface of the ground, and sometimes below it. I have known seTeral in-tan. -en when- th 

 young Larks would suffer themselves to be fed by kind as they sat in th.-ir n.-sts, but the 

 parent birds always seemed rather distressed at the intrusion into th.-ir premis*-*. The 

 : ials of whii -h ii i^ made are dry grasses, bents, leaves, an>l hair, the hair being generally 

 used in the lining. It will be seen that the soN-r coloring of those substances renders the 



