LARKS. D 



larks, the sky-lark and the wood-lark, which resemble each 

 other, and are peculiar and different from all other birds, 

 both in appearance and in habits. 



Their bills are less conical, and consequently weaker ; and 

 they are much less graminivorous than most of the order, 

 though more so than those of the pipits, with which they 

 have been confounded. They are also much better formed 

 for running ; and the great length of claw upon the hind toe 

 enables them to run on the surface of thick-matted grass, or 

 rise from it, or alight on it, with much less inconvenience 

 than almost any other birds. The form of the lark's foot, 

 as contrasted with that of the wagtail, which walks on soft 

 weed, may be seen by looking back to the cut in page 303, 

 vol. i. 



They are field-birds, and resemble, in their general air, and 

 in the tints of their plumage, the gallinaceous birds that 

 inhabit similar places. They are different in the form of 

 their bodies, and in the structure of their wings and tails, 

 because they are birds which are much on the wing, and the 

 gallinse are not. They nestle on the ground, and, in the 

 summer, field-insects and earth-worms, especially the latter, 

 form a very considerable portion of the food both of them- 

 selves and their broods ; but in the winter they live more 

 upon seeds, chiefly those seeds of annual weeds which are 

 scattered over the corn-fields, and have been partially soaked 

 and softened by the autumnal rains. 



Larks are fleet runners, and they stand up for observation, 

 with their heads above the cover, after the manner of grous ; 

 the head, which is generally crested, and has the crest erected, 

 not being easily distinguishable from a clod. The colours 

 are brown and brownish white, in variously mottled tints, 

 with the feathers on the upper part well relieved by paler 

 margins. Their colours are sober, but there is a warmth of 

 tone about them, which, taken in conjunction with the form 



