226 The Hunting Wasps 



roiling frigiitened eyes ; and tiie Larlc arrives, 

 dipping on tlie wing, curious to obtain a closer 

 view of the bright apparatus or the grotesque 

 bird. He is there, in front of you, a dozen 

 yards away, with feet pendant and wings out- 

 spread like the Dove in a sacred picture. Now 

 then : take aim and fire ! I wish my readers 

 the excitement of this fascinating sport. 



With the Skylark, often in the same com- 

 panies, comes the Titlark, commonly called the 

 Sisi. Here again an onomatopoeia gives us the 

 bird's little call-note. None goes with greater 

 fury for the Owl, round whom he manoeuvres 

 and hovers constantly. But we will not con- 

 tinue the list of the birds of passage that visit 

 us. Most of them make but a short halt here ; 

 they stay for a few weeks, attracted by the 

 abundance of food, especially of insects ; then, 

 plump and strong, they pursue their southward 

 journey. Others, fewer these, take up their 

 winter quarters in our plains, where snow is 

 very rare and where thousands of little seeds lie 

 exposed on the ground, even in the depth of 

 winter. One of these is the Skylark, who gives 

 his attention to the corn-fields and fallows ; 

 another is the Titlark, who prefers the lucern- 

 fields and meadows. 



The Skylark, so common in almost every part 

 of France, does not nest in the Vaucluse plains, 



