452 ALAUDIDJS. 



for cage birds, and the sum obtained for them, twelve or 

 fifteen shillings being a common price for a good bird, 

 various means are practised to entrap thenr. Though 

 living in pairs during summer, Sky Larks are gregarious 

 in winter, assembling in vast flocks on the open country, 

 where thousands are taken for the table by dragging a net 

 over the stubbles, and other short cover, among which 

 the poor birds shelter themselves. At this time they are 

 in excellent condition, even during severe frost, the low 

 temperature of the season probably checking cutaneous 

 transpiration, and inducing a deposit of fat ; but should 

 a fall of snow cover the ground, their condition is altered 

 for the worse in a few days. It appears from the follow- 

 ing remarks of Mr. Woolnough, of Hollesley, on the 

 coast of Suffolk, that these birds frequently migrate into 

 this country from the Continent in autumn.* " I have 

 frequently seen them come flying off the sea ; not in one 

 year, but on several, and for many hours on the same day, 

 from five and ten, to forty and fifty in a flock. This I 

 once observed in November for three days in succession : 

 our fields were then covered with Larks, to the great de- 

 struction of the late sown wheat." The Rev. Richard 

 Lubbock, among other notices of the birds of Norfolk 

 with which he has favoured me, says, " I can entirely cor- 

 roborate the migration of these birds to our coast in the 

 autumn, as mentioned in the Linnean Transactions. On 

 Eaistor Point, near Yarmouth, I have more than once 

 witnessed the arrival of Larks from the sea, precisely as 

 there described." During severe weather in winter, large 

 flocks of Larks are observed in some inland counties, and 

 particularly in the southern counties, of England, flying to 

 the westward. 



* Linn. Trans, vol. xv. p. 22. 



