BIRDS' NESTS. 243 



young; still she did not fly away, and the 

 mowers levelled the grass all round her without 

 her taking further notice of their proceedings. 

 A young friend of mine, son of the owner of 

 the crop, witnessed this, and about an hour 

 afterwards went to see if she was safe, when, 

 to his great surprise, he found that she had 

 actually constructed a dome of dry grass over 

 the nest during the interval, leaving an aper- 

 ture on one side for ingress and egress, thus 

 endeavouring to secure a continuance of the 

 shelter previously supplied by the long grass." 

 Two or three instances are recorded of the sky- 

 lark removing its eggs, and even its young, in 

 time of danger. The eggs, four or five in 

 number, are of a light greenish ground, mottled 

 all over with ash brown, varying greatly in 

 deepness of shade in different specimens ; not 

 unfrequently the markings are wanting, when 

 the egg appears of a uniform greenish brown. 

 Both nest and eggs of the Woodlark (Alauda 

 arbored) are very similar to those of the skylark. 

 E 2 



