THE LARK. 



151 



pleasing sensations ; it is but the mirth of a 

 little animal, insensible of its misfortunate 

 situation : it is the landscape, the grove, the 

 golden break of day, the contest upon the 



and even on the trees which are at the edges of woods. 

 Us song is agreeable. 



The Alpine Lark inhabits the most northern portions 

 of the two continents. In both quarters of the globe 

 these larks, whose flesh is wholesome food, though with- 

 out flavour, like that of most American birds, qnit their 

 winter retreat in the early days of spring, to withdraw 

 into the countries which are nearest to the pole, where 

 in perfect security from the aggressions of man, they 

 may deliver themselves without disturbance to the edu- 

 cation of their young families. 



The Calandre is larger than the common lark, but 

 yet has many points of resemblance to it, not only in 

 ((information and colour, but also in habits and manners. 

 It is found in the south of France, in Italy and the 

 inland of Sardinia, where it pas=es the entire year. The 

 ralandres are not observed to congregate in flocks, but 

 usually remain single ; in autumn they grow very fat, 

 and are then good eating; they are taken in nets, laid 

 near the waters where they are accustomed to drink. 



The Sirli, a species of lark, is remarkable for its long 

 and arched beak. It is found in the southern parts of 

 Africa, and even in Barbary, usually inhabiting the 

 Bandy downs ; from its peculiar song, which it gener- 

 ally puts forth from some little eminence, its name is 

 derived. 



The Double-crested Lark is distinguished chiefly by 

 the double crest, from which its name is derived. 



TITMICE. The majority of the Titmice, particularly 

 those which frequent woods, thickets, and orchards, are 

 courageous, and even ferocious; they will attack the 

 owl with greater boldness than any other bird, heing 

 always foremost in darting on him, and trying to pick 

 out his eyes. They express their little rage and fury 

 by the swelling of their plumes, by violent attitudes, 

 and precipitate motions; they peck sharply the hand 

 which holds them, strike it repeatedly with the bill, and 

 .^tem by their cries to call others to their assistance, 

 which usually attracts them in crowds, and produces 

 abundant sport to the fowler, for a single individual can 

 take them all. There are many traits of conformity in 

 their manners and disposition with those of the crows, 

 chrikes, arid pies; they have- the same appetite for flesh, 

 and the same custom of tearing their food in pieces to 

 eat it.. These birds being of a lively and active charac- 

 ter, are incessantly in motion; they are continually 

 fluttering from tree to tree, hopping from branch to 

 branch, climbing up the trunk, crooking themselves to 

 walls, and suspending themselves in all fashions, some- 

 times with the head downwards. Though fierce, they 

 are social, seek out the company of their own species, 

 and form little flocks, more or less numerous; and if 

 any accident should separate them, they recall each 

 other mutually, and are soon reunited. They then seek 

 their food in common, visit the clefts of rocks and walls, 

 and tear with their bills the lichens and the moss of 

 trees, to find insects or their eggs. They also feed on 

 seeds ; but though in many species the bill is strong 

 enough, they do not break them, like the bullfinches 

 and linnets ; they place them under their claws, and 

 pierce them with their bills, like the nuthatches, with 

 "Inch they sometimes seem to associate during the 

 winter. If a nut be suspended at the end of a string, 

 they will hook themselves to it, and follow all its oscilla- 

 tions without letting go, and keep incessantly picking 

 at it. Such manoeuvres indicate much strength in the 

 muscles; it has accordingly been observed that the bill 

 is moved by very robust and vigorous muscles and liga- 

 ments, as well as the neck, and that the cranium is re- 



hawthorn, the fluttering from branch to branch, 

 the soaring in the air, and the answering of 

 its young, that gives the bird's song its true 

 relish. These, united, improve each other, 



markably thick. They will eat not only grains, but 

 insects, as above hinted, and butterfly-eggs, and peck 

 the growing buds. The largest species (the great tit- 

 mouse) joins to its other aliments bees, and even little 

 birds, if it finds them enfeebled by illness, or entangled 

 in snares, but it usually eats only the head. Almost all 

 the species of titmice are very productive, even more so 

 than any other birds, in proportion to their size ; their 

 brood is said sometimes to consist of eighteen or twenty 

 eggs. Some make their nests in the trunks of trees, 

 others on shrubs, and give it the form of a ball, of a 

 volume greatly disproportioned to their size; some sus- 

 pend it at the end of a branch, in reeds or rushes. The 

 materials which they employ are small plants, little roots, 

 moss, flax, cattle hair, wool, the down of plants, cotton, 

 and feathers; they tend their numerous family with the 

 most indefatigable zeal and activity, are very much 

 attached to it, and defend it with courage against tin; 

 birds which attack it. They rush on the enemy with 

 such intrepidity as to force him to respect tfieir weak- 

 ness. The titmice are extended over the old continent, 

 from the north to the south of Europe, through Africa, 

 India, and China: they are also found in North America, 

 but are as yet unknown in the southern part of that 

 continent. Within these few years, several have been 

 discovered in New Holland. Among the titmice, those 

 which are most easily caught in snares, &c. are the 

 great, the black, and blue-headed species; the crested, 

 the long-tailed, the bearded, and the penduline are not 

 so easily managed. 



BUNTINGS. The Buntings are distinguished princi, 

 pally by their conical, short, and straight bill, and by 

 the addition of a knob in the roof of the upper mandible, 

 which is made use of by the bird as an anvil on which 

 to break and comminute its food. This apparatus is 

 sufficient to lead the observing naturalist per saltum, as 

 it were, to the conclusion that this gonus of birds must 

 be granivorous. It is true, indeed, that very many 

 birds are enabled to crack and open nuts and hard seeds, 

 without the aid of that extra provision with which the 

 buntings are furnished : and this is one of the countless 

 instances which might be adduced to display the various 

 means employed by Nature to attain one and the same 

 end. How different, for instance, are the means by 

 which the several classes of animals attain the common 

 object of locomotion, and how various are the modifica- 

 tions of those means in the respective genera. The 

 buntings, however, do not feed exclusively on vegetable 

 matter; like most of their order, they subsist also par- 

 tially on insects and worms. 



The Yellow Buntinij is known in England under the 



name of yellow- hammer ; in Scotland under that of 



