300 BEITISH SONG BIRDS. 



paste, poppy and bruised hemp-seeds, bruised oats, crumb of bread, 

 and an abundant supply of greens, such as water-cresses, chickweed, 

 lettuce, &c., a small quantity of minced lean meat and a few ants' 

 eggs may be added sometimes for a treat. If the bird is unwell, or 

 becomes loose, grate a little cheese into his food, and give him some 

 wood-lice three or four times a day ; a blade or two of saffron, and 

 some liquorice in his water, will also be of service, as likewise a 

 spider occasionally. Larks are caught with clap-nets, and also with 

 nooses, and in dark nights with the trammel. 



The lark's cage is always plain in its appear- 

 ance, being painted green without and white 

 within. The roof is gabled, the back boarded, 

 and it should have a drawer at the bottom for 

 convenience in cleaning ; the front of the cage, 

 from about an inch and a half from the bottom 

 to the lower part of the gabled roof, is bowed, 

 and on the floor of this bow a sod of clover or 

 grass is placed, and this sod should be renewed every other day ; the 

 sides of the cage are wired, and the places for seed and water may 

 be outside ; in some cages a drawer for the seed is substituted for 

 the little box or glass. Plenty of sand should be spread over the 

 bottom of the cage. Larks are the only birds which sing while 

 winging their way up into mid- air, and their clear strains may be 

 heard even when they have soared far beyond the reach of sight. 



THE TITLAKK. 



The meadow- pipet (for that is its 

 real name), like the skylark, builds its 

 nest on the ground, where it is gene- 

 rally found under a tuft of tall, close- 

 grown grass, and in which it lays 

 from four to six eggs of a light- 

 brownish colour spotted with the same 

 hue, though of a darker tint. It is 

 the smallest of the lark tribe, and is 

 a handsome and slender bird. In the 

 arrangement of its colours it resembles 

 the skylark, but is of a rather darker and more greenish brown than 

 that bird. Its breast is elegantly marked with black spots on a light 

 yellow ground, belly light ash colour, faintly tinged with dusky 

 streaks ; its tail is almost black, the two outer feathers edged with 

 white ; its legs are yellowish, feet and claws brown, its bill brown, 

 tipped with black, and its eyes hazel. The young may be reared 

 from the nest, if fed upon ants' eggs, and bread soaked in boiled 

 milk, and a few poppy seeds ; they learn to imitate the songs of 

 other birds, but never arrive at great perfection in their imitations. 

 The time for catching old birds, or branchers, is from the end of 

 March to the middle of April, for if taken at a later period, they will 

 not sing much during the first summer; clap-nets are the means 

 generally employed for the purpose, but limed twigs are also some- 



