THE SKYLARK. 119 



has moulted. The bill, legs, and claws are light brown, 

 the claws and point of the bill darker than the rest. 

 The eyes are full and bright, and a yellowish streak 

 above each has something the appearance of an eye- 

 brow. The principal difference in the sexes is, that the 

 female is rather smaller and paler in the colour than 

 the male, that the posterior claw is not so long in pro- 

 portion, and that the white on the tip and exterior 

 edge of the outer tail feathers is not so conspicuous. 



As the lark does not hop, the young remain a 

 considerable time in the nest ; and consume a great 

 deal of food, which is chiefly earth-worms and in- 

 sects arid their larvae. Their double or triple broods, 

 the great attention that they pay to them, and the 

 number of hours which the male devotes daily for 

 so many months to singing, make the life of the 

 lark one of great activity, till about the beginning 

 of September, when, if no casualty has befallen them, 

 its family cares for the season are at an end. For 

 the remaining months of the year it has nothing to 

 attend to but its own feeding, and, as provisions are 

 abundant, it gets very fat, is caught in great numbers 

 in some of the midland counties of England, and 

 sells in the London markets for from three to four 

 shillings a pound ; thus, though it may be an epi- 

 curean, it is any thing but an economical food. It 

 then subsists chiefly upon seeds, which, however, it 

 does not prowl for about farm-yards, like many other 

 birds, but seeks chiefly in the open fields, and is 

 thereby very beneficial in the destruction of weeds. 



The lark is, indeed, peculiarly the bird of open 

 cultivated districts, avoiding equally the lonely wilds, 



