BIRDS 85 



these shores. One, the WOODCHAT SHRIKE, recognized by its red crown and 

 nape, has been known to breed in the Isle of Wight and Hants. 



Siskin, chiefly known as a winter visitor. This active and fearless little 

 bird is resident in pine forests in Ireland and Scotland (above Perth), but 

 nests only sparingly in the South of Scotland and the North of England. It is 

 distinguished by its small size, its black head and chin, and yellow and green 

 plumage. The female is greyer, and lacks the black on head and chin. 



The nest is generally high up in coniferous trees ; made of twigs, roots, 

 grass, and moss, lined with wool, down, etc. The eggs are bluish white with 

 reddish brown spots. The call is a simple piping note ; but the bird has 

 a noisy little song of its own, not very musical. 



Skylark. Although this bird is a common resident, it is also a migrant 

 witL the most bewildering movements, thousands of the birds moving in 

 spring and autumn to and from the North and South. Its sober colours are 

 too well known to need describing ; but note that it has an erectile crest and a 

 curiously long spur on the hind-toe, the purpose of which is not known. The 

 old countryside explanation was that the lark used it to blind sheep when 

 they came too near the nest, and the expression " lark-spurred " is still, I 

 believe, used for one kind of ophthalmia in sheep. The bird's song is heard 

 regularly from January to July, and again from September to November. 

 But it is almost truer to say that it sings all the year round, for I have heard 

 larks singing in August plentifully on Portland Bill, and every Christmas Day 

 for some years past I have seldom been disappointed on listening for the 

 welcome sound. 



The wonderful song, generally heard in the air, sometimes lasts without 

 a break for half an hour ; but the bird also sings on the ground or from a 

 bush. In spite of popular statements, the bird can and does perch in trees, 

 but rarely ; on the ground it is more at home ; and it displays a marked 

 characteristic in running, not hopping. During the autumn it gathers into 

 large flocks. Thousands of birds fall victims, unfortunately, to the tastes of 

 men, and I know no sadder sight than that of the bodies of scores of these 

 glorious songsters hanging up for sale in the shops. However, in spite of 

 this fact, the lark does not appear to diminish in numbers. 



The nest is always on the ground, usually in grass or amongst corn, and 

 is made of grass bents, lined with finer material and hair. The eggs (three 

 or four) are greyish or greenish white, closely mottled with olive-brown and 

 grey. 



Snipe, Jack, the smallest of the family of Scolopacina, embracing the Wood- 

 cock and Snipes, is a winter visitor, and does not breed in the British Isles. 

 Its general habits and characteristics are like those of the Common Snipe (which 

 see), from which it is distinguished by its smaller size. It has twelve instead 

 of fourteen tail feathers. The centre of the crown is black, with a vague 

 band of chestnut down the middle (the Common Snipe has a clearly marked 

 buff stripe). There is a remarkable metallic sheen on the purple of the rump 



