THE LABK.] 



BY FIHL1\ WOOn. AM) WATEK. 



[tuk L.VUK. 



BDort in this way. Sometimes six dozen of 

 tlu'so birds are sliot beforo bivakl'ast : Homo- 

 timcs the sportsman sits on tlio ground, and 

 pulls the twirler himself, and sometimes a boy 

 or servant is employed to do it. Ladies often 

 participate in tlie amusement on a cold, dry 

 morning, not by shooting, but by watching tlie 

 sport. Occasionally there are ten or a dozen 

 parties out together, firing at a distance 

 of five or six hundred yards ; and by this device 

 the larks arc kept constantly ou tho wing. 

 The most favourable mornings are, wlieu there 

 is a gentle light frost, with little or no wind, 

 and the sky clear. When cloudy the birds 

 will not appear. To a bystander it would 

 almost suggest the thought, that the larks 

 themselves enjoyed their own destruction ; for 

 the fascination of the twirler is so strong, as 

 to rob them of tho usual fruits of experience. 

 After being fired at several times, they return 

 to the twirler, and form again into groups 

 above it — some of them even flying down, and 

 sitting upon the ground, within a yard or two 

 of the astonishing instrument, looking at it 

 this way and that way, and all ways together, 

 as if nothing had happened. In some parts of 

 Germany, larks are taken in great quantities; 

 and we are informed by Dr. Latham, that tlie 

 duty paid at Leipsic for these birds, amounts 

 to twelve thousand crowns ^er annum, at two- 

 pence-halfpenny for every sixty larks. 



In this country, some lark shooters, in winter 

 — when there is a certain portion of snow on 

 the ground, with hard frost — sweep a part of 

 the snow from the surface, and strew it with 

 a little chaffer grain. This area need not be 

 more than twenty yards square. The birds 

 will eagerly frequent it ; and, by means of a 

 natural hedge embankment, or an artificial 

 screen, numbers of them are taken. 



Speaking for ourselves, however, in this 

 matter, we regret the destruction of every bird 

 of song. Amongst all the enjoyments of this 

 world, not the least is the music of birds, 

 which, when combined with the elegance of 



their forms, tho loveliness of their plumage, 

 and tho liveliness of their actions, are cajjablo 

 of affording pK'aauro to every ear or eye. As 

 a study in natural history, that of birds is by 

 far tho most beautiful and interesting; yet 

 how comparatively few are those who are 

 acquainted with the h.abitudes of even those 

 that are most common amongst us! It would 

 really appear that many think that birds wero 

 created only to be shot, and for no other pur- 

 pose whatever. "In natural history," says 

 -Mudio, "and more especially in tlie natural 

 liistory of birds, which, from the fieetness of 

 their aerial motions, carry the mind more 

 readily and directly over the general map of 

 the earth than any other class of the earth's 

 productions, this inversion of tho order of 

 nature — this substitution of tho end for the 

 beginning — is peculiarly hurtful, and must be 

 the cause why people, even well informed, 

 otherwise, know so very little about the nature 

 and habits of those species which are before 

 their eyes every day, and which appear to come 

 for the express purpose of being observed and 

 studied. Take, as a familiar instance, the 

 common redbreast, and ask your next neigh- 

 bour when and where it builds its nest ? — what 

 are the number and colour of its eggs ? — how 

 long the incubation lasts ? — how the young are 

 fed, and on what ? — and the chances are many 

 to one that you do not get direct answers; 

 and, if you do, they are the second-hand 

 answers of someone who has written a descrip- 

 tion of the bird, which, if original at all, has 

 most probably been obtained from observa- 

 tions made in a climate differing from yours, 

 and, therefore, is not quite so accurate as the 

 description of your redbreast. Carry your 

 interrogations a little further. Ask what is 

 the geographical distribution of the bird? — 

 what are its uses in the general economy of 

 nature ? — and you will find the answers still 

 more diflicult to be obtained, and more unsatis- 

 factory where you can obtain them." This is 

 at least the case with those who dwell in cities. 



eo5 



