158 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



sing from a perching place. The song of the former, as 

 a rule, is more uneven and varied, and as it were speaks 

 of motion, as, for instance, the song of the Wren, the 

 Swallow, and the Skylark ; while the latter is more 

 tame and even, as the love song of the Bunting or the 

 tuneful warblings of the Blackbird. When the Lark is 

 in song he is a good guide to the weather, for when- 

 ever we see him rise into the air, despite the gloomy 

 looks of an overcast sky, fine weather is invariably at 

 hand. 



As the nesting season draws nigh, the Larks spread 

 themselves here and there over the surrounding grass 

 lands for the continuation of their species. The nest is 

 most frequently in the mowing grass fields, sometimes 

 amongst the young corn, or even by the wayside, in 

 places little frequented. It is made of dry grasses and 

 moss, and lined with fibrous roots and a little horsehair ; 

 and the eggs, four or five in number, sometimes only 

 three, are dull white, spotted, clouded, and blotched over 

 the entire surface with brownish-green. The female 

 Lark, like all ground birds, is a very close sitter, remain- 

 ing faithful to her charge until almost trod upon by the 

 wanderer over the grass lands. The manner the Lark 

 regains her nest, too, shows us that she practises decep- 

 tive motions as a protective power. You see her drop 

 silently into the herbage, and by a previous knowledge 

 of her habits you are aware her nest is far away, probably 

 a hundred yards or more from the place of her descent. 

 The male Skylark is seen more frequently in the breed- 

 ing season than at any other time of the year. It is 

 music that sends him into the gaze of every observer 

 taking the trouble to find him in the sky, and that music 

 may be the result of love, or for the purpose of cheering 

 his mate on her lowly nest, or even for the purpose of 



