WOODLARK. Alauuiii aro&rea. 



bird rises into the air. The form of the spiral has been well described by comparing it 

 to a spiral line wound around the exterior of an ascending column of smoke. Mudie 

 suggests that the bird extends the diameter of the spiral in exact proportion to the 

 sustaining_power of the atmosphere, and remarks that while descending the Lark follows 

 the same line which it had taken in its ascent. 



During the spring and summer the Skylark lives in pairs, and is assiduously employed 

 in attending to the wants of its family, of which it generally produces two broods in each 

 season. Towards the end of autumn and throughout the winter, the Larks become very 

 gregarious, "packing" in flocks of thousands in number, and becoming very fat when 

 snow should cover the ground, in which case they speedily lose their condition. These 

 flocks are often augmented by the arrival of numerous little flocks from the continent, 

 that come flying over the sea about the end of autumn, so that the bird-catchers generally 

 reap a rich harvest in a sharp winter. 



The colour of the Skylark is brown of different shades, mingled with a very little 

 white and an occasional tinge of yellow. The feathers on the top of the head form 

 a crest, and are dark "brown with paler edges. The whole of the upper parts are brown 

 mottled with a darker hue in the middle of each of them, the throat and upper part of 

 the breast are greyish brown spotted with dark brown, and the abdomen is yellowish 

 white deepening into pale brown on the flanks. The greater part of the tail is brown, 

 dark in the centre of the feathers and lighter upon the edges, the two exterior feathers 

 are white streaked with brown on the inner web, and the two next feathers are dark 

 brown streaked with white on the outer web. The total length of this bird is rather more 

 than seven inches. 



ANOTHEE species of British Lark is often mistaken for the preceding species, from 

 which, however, it may be distinguished by its inferior dimensions, its shorter tail, and the 

 light streak over the eye. This is the WOODLAEK, so called on account of its arboreal 

 tendencies and its capability to perch upon the branches of trees, a power which seems to 

 be denied to the skylark. I have, however, seen one or two letters from persons who 



