PASSERIFORMES 141 



into New Zealand. They are particularly destructive in spring, when 

 they pull wheat and other grains out of the ground just as they are 

 springing. They also uproot seedling cabbage, turnip, and other farm 

 plants. In the Foxton district pea-growing is quite impossible, owing 

 to their depredations. 



Several observers note that skylarks sing from a perch. Potts, 

 writing in Canterbury in 1884, says: 



In the old country I never observed a Skylark in full song when 

 perched. This habit is not very infrequent here. Taking up a position on 

 a post or rail, gently turning from side to side, now and then with a slight 

 movement of the wings, it indulges in song as joyous and powerful as when 

 ascending in spiral circles skyward. At Sumner it has been observed 

 singing whilst on the ground. 



He also records great variation in the coloration of the eggs : 



whitish or grey-yellow, profusely speckled with brown of various shades ; 

 dull greyish with a green tinge, freckled or mottled with an ashen-brown ; 

 rich brown, abundantly marked with darker shades highly varnished ; pale 

 dull pink, profusely speckled with reddish brown. 



Mr H. Watts, of Maungatua, Otago, states that the skylark has 

 mated freely with the native pipit (Anthus novee-zealandite), and he 

 considers that the hybrid is the mischievous bird. He states that the 

 hybrid bird rarely rises to any height when singing, and that when 

 on the wing he only utters a few expressionless notes ; then he makes 

 a horizontal flight to some distance, or alights upon a post and con- 

 tinues his song. Mr Watts is a good observer and keen student of 

 nature, but I cannot obtain any corroboration of his views, and am 

 doubtful whether the two species are able to hybridise. 



Mr Drummond (July, 1916) climbed Mt Leadhill, south of 

 Collingwood, and notes in his diary: 



It is surprising to see so many larks in this desolate misty region, 

 amongst rocks and boulders, where the food supplies must be poor. On 

 all sides below us there are valleys throbbing with life, and further on 

 are plains and meadows, yet these birds are spending their time here. 

 With the exception of a few small but beautiful sub-alpine flowers, such 

 as Celmisias and Sundews, they afford the only relief to the dreariness 

 of this frowning mountain side. 



The presence of the lark is, of course, proof that the food they are 

 dependent on, viz. seeds and insects, was not poor. Hilgendorf found 

 the nest of the skylark with eggs among rocks at an elevation of 

 5000 feet in the Canterbury Mountains. He says of larks : " Skylarks 

 in this district are almost purely insectivorous ; in agricultural districts, 



