THE TITLAKK. 183 



convince these people of their error, but by showing them in my bird-room 

 the same lark which called " guik " in the autumn and winter, and " tzip " 

 in the summer. We may judge by this circumstance how many mistakes 

 and errors may slip into natural history, when in the determination of species 

 we meet with things which we can neither see nor verify. 



In confinement, I have been accustomed to let the calling lark range 

 freely among my other birds, because I would not trouble myself to give 

 it a particular cage. I own, however, that it would be better so circum- 

 stanced, on all accounts, as well in regard to its health as its song. This 

 cage should be long, like that of the sky-lark, and furnished with two 

 sticks, because this kind perches. 



FOOD. When wild, the food consists of all sorts of flies, grasshoppers, 

 caterpillars, butterflies, beetles, and ants' eggs. 



In confinement, as it is the most delicate of its species, the food must be 

 frequently changed and varied. Besides the universal paste, wt should 

 sometimes give it the common food of the nightingale, sometimes bruised 

 hemp, mouldy cheese, meal worms, and ants* eggs. 



It is very difficult to accustom it to take the food of the bird-room. As 

 soon as it arrives, we must throw it some meal worms, ants' eggs, or 

 caterpillars ; as soon as these are eaten, some must be mixed with the uni- 

 versal paste and with all its food ; it will thus insensibly grow accustomed 

 to the common food. 



This lark does not roll in the sand, and dust itself like the others, but 

 it thrusts its beak into water and sprinkles itself ; another indication of its 

 approximation to the wagtail, as was mentioned above. 



BREEDING. The titlark lays twice a year. The nest, placed on the 

 ground in a cleared part of the woods, or under a bush or hillock, in a 

 tuft of grass, in a field or orchard, is made in the simplest manner ; coarse 

 hay outside and finer within, with some wool and hair, are all the ma- 

 terials. The eggs, in number from four to five, are gray mottled with 

 brown ; the young escape as soon as possible, having but too many ene- 

 mies to fear on the ground. 



They may be brought up with ants' eggs and white bread soaked in 

 boiled milk, to which a few poppy-seeds are added. They easily learn to 

 imitate the songs of the birds in the same room with them, especially that 

 of the canary, without however attaining any great perfection. 



DISEASES. Independent of those which are common to the other bird* 

 of its species, it is particularly subject to the loss of its feathers out of the 

 moulting season ; if it is not at once supplied with food more nutritious, 

 and better suited to its natural habits, as ants' eggs, meal worms, and other 

 insects, it soon dies of atrophy. At the best it can only be preserved five 

 or six years *. 



MODE OF TAKING. To take the bird from its nest by a limed twig, and 

 thus destroy the young family by hunger and misery, is a cruelty which 

 none but a harsh insensible amateur could resolve upon. I prefer using 

 the night-net in autumn ; this bird is also caught in the water- trap in Au- 

 gust and September. 



* I possessed a fine one which died from lice. TRANSLATOR. 



