12 GRAMINIVOR^E. 



the British islands, is by no means so common a bird as the 

 sky-lark. It is found on the borders of woods in wild 

 places, and is not so much a bird of the cultivated fields as 

 the other. Indeed, it is altogether of more solitary habits ; 

 for while sky-larks congregate in flocks of many thousands, 

 it is rare to see a dozen of wood-larks at the same time : 

 and even in the small numbers that do appear in the winter, 

 they are not found far from those wild localities in which 

 they breed. They are early breeders, the nest being begun 

 in March, and the brood hatched as early as May. The nest 

 is more concealed than that of the sky-lark, being usually 

 under a bush, or in a tuft of thick herbage. It is composed 

 of the same materials, with sometimes the addition of a few 

 hairs in the lining. The eggs, which are four in number, are 

 smaller than those of the sky-lark, obscure brown in the 

 ground colour, and blotched with darker brown and grey. 



That wood-larks are not so numerous in proportion to 

 their eggs as the other species, may be accounted for partly 

 from the inclement season, and partly from the more barren 

 places in which they breed. Their breeding-time varies 

 considerably in different parts of the country; but in all 

 situations it is as early as the weather will admit. And 

 thus, in the high grounds, on the skirts of the Grampians 

 especially, the nests are liable to be destroyed by those storms 

 of sleet or snow, which set in sometimes as late as the middle 

 of May, or even the beginning of June. 



On those upland places, this species is the only lark, and 

 the song with which it hails the first approach of the tardy 

 and somewhat doubtful spring, is a very delightful one ; the 

 more so, that in those places, and at that season, it is the 

 only songster. 



The name is not very appropriate, for* the bird is one of 

 the waste rather than of the woodland. And though it 

 perches, which the sky-lark does not, it has many of the 



