CLASS II. AYES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 



178 





SKr-LAIiKS. 



Black and white varieties are sometimes seen. The nest is placed on the ground, and often under 

 the shelter of a tuft of grass ; the eggs are four or five, and whitish-gray. The poet says : 



" The daisied lea he loves, vrherb tufts of grass 

 Luxuriant crown the ridge; there, with his mate, 

 He founds his lowly house, of withered bents 

 And coarsest spear-grass ; next, the inner work 

 With finer and still finer fibers lays, 

 Rounding its corners with his speckled breast." 



This species feeds on insects, larva?, ants' eggs, and various kinds of small seeds. Its flesh ranks 

 among the greatest of delicacies ; traps and nets of many kinds are employed for its capture. It 

 is sedentary in Middle and Southern Europe, and begins its song early in the spring, and contin- 

 es it till late in the autumn, generally singing while rising or falling perpendicularly in the 

 air, although its joyous itotes are occasionally poured forth while sitting on the ground. So 

 powerful is the voice lodged in this little body, that its sound may be heard long after the song- 

 ster is quite out of sight ; and even then a practiced ear can distinguish those peculiarities in the 

 song which mark whether the bird is still rising, or stationary, or gradually descending. The 

 Lark sings for about eight months in the year, and as liis notes are remarkable for their power 

 and vivacity, he is a great favorite as a cage-bird. In the summer liis lay commences before 

 three o'clock in the morning, and continues till after sunset. He is also very long-lived ; Yar- 

 rell mentions an instance of one of these birds living in a cage for nineteen years and a ludf. 



Mudie notices a correspondence between the movements of the lark, when it clind)s np to the 

 sky by its winding flight, and its notes, as follows : " When the volutions of the spiral are narrow, 



