PERCHING BIRDS. 95 



both ground and markings have a more purple tone 

 than the preceding one ; in the fifth the ground is pale 

 reddish, minutely speckled all over with a darker shade 

 of the same colour, but allowing the ground to be seen. 

 The sixth has a still redder ground, but is so minutely 

 freckled as to appear at a little distance of a uniform 

 red. The six I have thus described I selected for my 

 cabinet out of a large number I had collected, but they 

 all varied so much that I had great difficulty in choosing 

 such as I wished to retain as specimens. The variation, 

 too, extends to the shape, some being rather short, with 

 the small end very pointed, while others are more 

 elongated, and some again almost oval. 



The eggs of the Meadow Pipit (Antkus pratensis) 

 have a brownish- white ground uniformly marked all 

 over with minute specks of hair brown ; the only 

 variation is that the general hue of some is darker, 

 from the specks being more thickly distributed. Mon- 

 tagu says that some are tinged with red, but I never 

 met with such. 



The Titlark, as it is commonly called with us, is a 

 constant resident, but it is my impression that our 

 numbers in summer are much greater than in winter. 

 It is partial to cultivation, and its nest I have usually 

 found in the meadows, placed on the ground, sometimes 

 at the foot of a tussock of grass or a tuft of weeds. 



The Skylark (Alauda arvensis) is as abundant with 

 us as it is everywhere else. I do not think one of our 

 native birds has so cheerful and inspiriting a song ; it 

 seems prompted by the very exuberance of joy and 

 gladness, as if it could not be contained or controlled. 

 What wonder, then, that both poetry and music should 

 have chosen it for its theme ; it would, indeed, be an 



