180 THE WOOD LARK. 



dark brown lines ; its long feathers render the head large, and 

 they may be raised at pleasure into a crest, which from eye to 

 eye is surrounded by a whitish ash- coloured line. The tail is 

 very short. 



The female, more beautiful, is of a paler ground, with darker 

 ornaments ; her breast more spotted ; the crest on her head 

 more prominent, and the line round the cheeks more distinct. 

 It is a well attested observation made on all our indigenous 

 species, that the individuals with the most spots on a lighter 

 ground, and of a clearer white, are certainly females. 



HABITATION. When wild these birds inhabit the temperate regions of 

 Europe, in summer the woods of the plain, near fields and meadows, and in 

 the woods of the hills they alternate between heaths and pasture lands. 

 After breeding time they assemble in small flocks of ten or twelve. They 

 are thus found in the stubble, at their departure in October, and their 

 return in March. 



In the house I prefer letting them run about, because my experience 

 shows that they sing better in this way than when caged. They must be 

 well supplied with river sand, as well to roll and dust themselves as to pick 

 out grains necessary for their digestion. 



FOOD. When wild, in summer, the food consists of insects ; in autumn, 

 of rape, millet, seed, and oats ; in spring, before they can find insects and 

 worms, they are satisfied with the young buds of herbs, water-cresses, 

 and, on an emergency, with the buds of the filbert. 



In the house, as this species is more delicate than the preceding, it is well 

 to vary the food, and to give it occasionally, independent of the universal 

 paste, poppy-seed, oats, hemp, sprouting wheat, fresh curds, fresh and dried 

 ants! eggs, minced ox heart, meal worms, and the like. When one of 

 these birds is caught by the net or otherwise, the best things to induce it to 

 eat when it reaches the bird-room are poppy-seeds and ants' eggs. 



I have seen two wood-larks which had been kept in a cage for eight 

 years, very healthy and gay, with their feet quite free from disease, and 

 singing perfectly. Their food consisted of crumbs of white bread and 

 pounded hemp-seed mixed together ; a piece of white bread, enough for the 

 day, soaked in milk, which was poured boiling over it every morning, was 

 also furnished ; and finally, some ants' eggs, given two or three times a day 

 as a treat. The bottom of the cage was also covered with sand, which was 

 changed regularly every day, as well as the water. They were always kept 

 in summer outside the window, exposed to the free air, screening them from 

 the sun by covering the top of the cage with a sheet of paper or piece of 

 linen by way of parasol. The success of this mode of treatment sufficiently 

 proves its advantage. The cage was furnished with two bars, because the 

 wood-lark perches. 



BREEDING. The wood-lark builds among the heath, under juniper 

 bushes, in hedges, high grass, or under a green hillock in fields near the 

 Avoods, or in copse wood. The nest is made of dry blades of grass, mixed 



