126 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



LETTER XII. 



" Un manant au miroir prenait des oisillons, 

 Le fantome brillant attire une alouette." 



LA FONTAINE. 



Netting and Killing Larks near Brighton Two Modes 

 Autumnal Migration " Chasse au miroir " De- 

 scriptive Sketch Lark-netting in the Winter 

 Mode of Capture Dark Nights " Experientia 

 docet" 



THERE are two modes of killing larks in the 

 neighbourhood of Brighton which are worth 

 noticing. The one lucrative, and adopted by 

 professional birdcatchers ; attended moreover 

 with a certain degree of labour and hardship, 

 and requiring some skill and perseverance : 

 the other a comparatively idle occupation, or 

 amusement, and as repugnant to the feelings of 

 the true sportsman, as are the piscatory achieve- 

 ments of a punt-anchored cockney to the salmon- 

 fisher of Connemara ! Nevertheless, as an indul- 

 gence in this pastime is very general during three 

 or four weeks in the year, and as it involves the 

 consideration of a peculiar instinct or habit in the 



