VOL. XV.] BRKEDING-HABITS OF WOOD-LARK. 267 



had commenced to sit was flooded out by a heavy downpour 

 of rain following the terrific hail-storm on the afternoon of 

 April 4th. I visited this nest immediately after the storm 

 was over and found the bird still on the nest though surrounded 

 and almost buried from view by sleet and hailstones, which 

 on leaving she scattered in all directions, exposing to view 

 the nest half full of water with eggs at the bottom. A few 

 seconds later it was completely swamped and needless to say 

 she never returned. 



Another nest the same year contained three young, two of 

 which were dead, the third in extremis. An examination 

 showed them to be infested with myriads of minute parasites. 

 The parent birds still continued their visits to the nest w^ith 

 food and as I sat watching from a distance the male suddenly 

 rose in the air and sang delightfully for several minutes, 

 oblivious of the tragedy below. 



That the female Wood-Lark occasionally sings I have very 

 little doubt, yet I have been unable to satisfy myself entirely 

 on this point owing to the proximity of other pairs of birds. 

 Although incubation is said to be performed solely b}/ the 

 female, which is perhaps correct, there is reason to believe 

 that the male occasionally relieves her, for I have watched 

 him brooding the newly-hatched young for several minutes 

 immediately following his visit to the nest with food. This 

 occurred one cold evening in April when I was able to crawl 

 to within three or four feet of the nest and watch him at very 

 close-quarters. 



Strange as it may seem, I have known a Cuckoo to deposit 

 its egg in the nest of a Wood-Lark shortly after the young 

 had vacated the nest ! 



The young, like those of the Sky -Lark, have three black 

 tongue-spots which are conspicuous from birth. After 

 leaving the nest the young remain in hiding for a few 

 days until able to fly and it is then that the parents become 

 extremely elusive during their visits to and fro with food, 

 often seeming to appear on the scene from " nowhere," and 

 vanishing in an equally mysterious manner. This is of 

 course to be explained by the bird's cunning in dodging 

 about through the bare patches amongst the heather, at the 

 same time taking advantage of any irregularity of the ground 

 to get away unobserved. I once had under observation a 

 bird which on leaving the nest after feeding the young almost 

 invariably made use of a cart-rut, along which it ran for the 

 distance of several yards before taking flight . The behaviour 

 of another pair of birds was so puzzling, baffling all attempts 



