TITS, PIPITS, AND LARKS 



II 



indentation, but 

 they retain the 

 straight h i n d- 

 toe claw of the 

 Pipits, and the 

 sexual plumage 

 does not vary. 

 Though more 

 strictly vegeta- 

 rian than the 

 Pipits, the 

 Larks, in com- 

 mon with nearly 

 all the smaller 

 birds, feed their 

 young chiefly on 

 insects. The 

 Lark is the only 

 bird that I have 

 ever seen taking 

 a Garden White 

 butterfly — per- 

 haps it was a 

 young bird that 

 had yet to learn 

 the warning in- 

 tention of con- 

 spicuous colora- 

 tion. The well-known song of the Sky- 

 lark, though generally dehvered whilst 



soanng, is some- 

 times uttered, in 

 shortened form, 

 from the ground; 

 and although the 

 habit is not fre- 

 (jucnt, I have 

 more than once 

 seen a Lark 

 ])crched on a 

 closely-cut 

 hedge, and have 

 timed the spi- 

 rally sung song 

 as lasting for 

 over four min- 

 utes. 



The resident 

 but local Wood 

 Lark, best de- 

 scribed as a 

 small Skylark 

 with short tail 

 and curved hind 

 claw, sings 

 whilst it hangs 

 SKYLARK. poised in the 



a i r. Skylarks 

 often rise and fall perpendicularly as they 

 sing, whilst the Meadow and Tree Pipits 







SKYLARK FEEDING HER YOUNG. 



