THE SKTLAEZ. 309 



are fledged. Before the first moulting, the upper part of their 

 body is covered with white specks. The time for taking them 

 out of the nest, is when the tail is about three quarters of 

 an inch in length, when they are to be fed with bread and 

 poppy seed soaked in milk; though ants' eggs, if they can 

 be got, form a preferable diet. The young males may be 

 distinguished by the yellow tinge of their plumage. The 

 education of such as are to be taught to w T histle, ought to 

 commence before they are fully fledged ; as they then begin to 

 practise their own song; and the facility with which they 

 adopt the song of other birds, render it necessary to hang the 

 cage in a room by itself. I have had in my possession Larks 

 which had acquired perfectly the songs of the Chaffinch and 

 Nightingale. 



Some females, when confined in the aviary, lay eggs in- 

 dependently of any connection with the male ; but I have never 

 succeeded in inducing them to sit. .One, in the possession of 

 a neighbour of mine, laid every year as many as from twenty 

 to twenty-five eggs ; but never, under any circumstances, could 

 be made to sit upon them. The breeding season is earlier in 

 the year, if the birds are kept in garden aviaries, when they 

 have more fresh air, and better opportunities of exercise. 



Diseases. The Skylark is subject to all the diseases men- 

 tioned in the Introduction. A malady by which it is very 

 frequently attacked, shows itself by the skin about the root of 

 the beak becoming scabby and yellow. I know of no better 

 remedy than an abundance of good food, especially the second 

 universal paste, varied with ants' eggs, meal worms, and a 

 little green food. The average duration of life in confinement 

 is about eight years, though instances have been known in 

 which it has lived for thirty years. 



Mode of Taking. It would occupy too much of our space to 

 describe the numerous methods which are followed to entrap 

 the Skylark. In all level countries, it may be caught during 

 autumn in great numbers, by means of day and night nets. 

 For the former, the nets are set up vertically like a wall, and 

 the Larks driven to them either by poles, to which bunches of 

 feathers are attached, or by ropes which are drawn along the 

 surface of the ground. For the latter, a four-cornered net is 

 drawn over such places as are likely to yield sport ; as, for in- 

 stance, stubble fields, &c. Another plan, by which, in spring, a 



