122 SPRING. 



The principal difference in the markings are, that the 

 feet are yellow, the male has a general yellowish tinge 

 underneath, and a white band on the head ; and the 

 exterior feathers of the tail, instead of being edged 

 with white, as in the skylark, are black. In the form, 

 materials, and situation of their nests, and also in their 

 food, they resemble the skylark. The hind claw in 

 the woodlark is as long as that of the skylark, and 

 straighter ; but still the woodlark can perch, and its 

 song is often poured from the summit of a lofty tree, 

 though its more general mode of singing be when it is 

 upon the wing. Even then, however, it has no re- 

 semblance to the skylark, as that pours forth its notes 

 when hovering over a single point with the wings in 

 rapid motion, while the woodlark wheels in circles and 

 has a progressive motion when singing. 



Though called the woodlark, and though it some- 

 times sings from a tree, especially in the evening, 

 the bird is not, strictly speaking, an inhabitant of the 

 forest. We have never either seen or heard it in an 

 extensive wood, or even in the depth of a grove, nor 

 have we seen it on the top of a tree till the leaves 

 had begun to expand. It always nestles, and probably 

 feeds in open places, and possibly seats itself upon a 

 tree when singing, in consequence of the greater ex- 

 ertion that it makes than the skylark when singing on 

 the wing. 



Its notes have not the variety or the wild transitions 

 of those of the skylark, but their modulation is sweeter, 

 and they are heard for a greater part both of the year 

 and the day. The only months of the year when the 

 woodlarks are altogether silent, are June and July, 



