THE LAEE.] 



SHOOTIXG,, 



[the lark. 



that it goes, to a certain extent, from one 

 country to another. The female builds her 

 nest generally in bushes — the hazel, the thorn, 

 and sometimes on the branches of trees. It 

 is composed of dried grass, cemented together 

 by clayey matter. Buffon maintains that these 

 birds are migratory in France, and appear, in 

 the southern section of the kingdom, about the 

 end of September, and before either the red- 

 wing or fieldfare are seen. The female has 

 not such a brilliant plumage as the male — the 

 colours and spots being more blended and 

 faint in the former than in the latter. 



THE MISSEL THRUSH. 



This bird is about eleven inches long, and 

 is the Turdiis Viscivorus of Linnseus. The 

 bill is of a dusky hue, and the base of it yellow. 

 The eyes are hazel. The head, back, and lesser 

 coverts of the wings are of a deep olive colour, 

 and the latter tipped with white, which, in 

 some instances, is much more brilliant than in 

 others. The lower portion of the back or rump 

 is tinged with yellow ; and the cheeks are of a 

 yellowish white, spotted with brown; and so 

 likewise are the belly and breast. The quills 

 are brown, fringed with pale edges, and the 

 tail-feathers are the same, the three outermost 

 being tipped with white. The legs are yellow, 

 and the claws are black. 



The female builds her nest in bushes or low 

 trees, and lays four or five eggs, of a greenish 

 colour, irregularly marked with red spots. 

 The nest is made of moss, leaves, and small 

 fibres of twigs, and lined with dry grass. The 

 bird commences early in the year to sing, even 

 when the weather is stormy and ungeuial ; and 

 this circumstance has induced country people, 

 in many districts in England, to call it the 

 storm-cocJc. It feeds on various kinds of berries, 

 particularly those of the misletoe. It like- 

 wise feeds on caterpillars, and different kinds of 

 insects, on which it chiefly rears its young. 

 It is a native of almost every country in 

 Europe, and, in some sections of the continent, 

 is said to be migratory. It remains in England 

 the entire year, and has frequently two broods 

 in the season. 



THE LARK. 



Tills is the Alauda Arvenis of Linnoeus, and 

 is so common in this country, that it hardly 

 requires a description hero. 

 604 



" The daisied lea he loves, where turfs of grass 

 Luxuriant crown the ridge ; there, with his mate, 

 He founds his lowly house of withered herbs 

 And coarsest spcar-grass ; next, the inner work 

 With finer and still finer fibres lays, 

 Rounding it curious with his speckled breast." 



This "herald of the morn," often made an 

 object of sport by the thoughtless tyro, builds 

 its nest upon the ground, where it is ex- 

 posed to the depredations of many of the 

 smaller animals of prey, as the weasel and the 

 stoat. Mr. Mudie says — "The lark selects 

 her ground with care, avoiding clayey places, 

 unless she can find two clods so placed as that 

 no part of a nest between them would be 

 below the surface. In more friable soils she 

 scrapes till she has not only formed a little 

 cavity, but loosened the bottom of it to some 

 depth. Over this the first layers are placed 

 very loosely, so that if any rain should get in 

 at the top, it may sink to the bottom, and 

 there be absorbed by the soil. The edges of 

 the nest are also raised a little above the 

 surface ; have a slope outwards, and are, as it 

 were, thatched. The position in which the 

 bird sits is a further security ; and as the head 

 is always turned to the weather, the feathers 

 of the breast and throat completely prevent 

 the rain from entering the nest at the side ; 

 while the wings and tail act as pent-houses in 

 the other parts ; and, if the weather be violent, 

 and the rain fall at a small angle with the 

 horizon, the fore part of the bird, upon which the 

 plumage is thickest, receives the whole of it." 



"What is called the twirling for larks, is fol- 

 lowed as an amusement in France, and is thus 

 described: — These birds are attracted to a 

 given spot, in considerable numbers, by a sin- 

 gular contrivance called a mirror. This is a 

 small mahogany machine, shaped like a chapeau- 

 hras, and highly polished ; or else it is made 

 up of common wood, inlaid with small bits of 

 looking-glass, so as to reflect, upw^ards, the rays 

 of the sun. It is fixed on the top of a thin 

 iron rod, on an upright spindle, dropped 

 through an iron hoop or ring, attached to a 

 piece of wood to drive into the ground. By 

 pulling a string fastened to the spindle, the 

 mirror twirls round, and the reflected light 

 unaccountably attracts the larks, which hover 

 over it, and become a mark for the sportsman. 

 There is often what the French call capital 



