ORDER PASSERES. 199 



When people are desirous of bringing up the young of this 

 species, tliey feed them with paste, made of meat and crumb 

 of bread, bruised hemp seed, and with crumb of bread and 

 beeFs heart hashed. This paste is improved by an admixture 

 of poppy seed grated. In Flanders they feed the young larks 

 with this seed moistened. As soon as they begin to sing they 

 are fed with sheep's heart, or boiled meat hashed with hard 

 eggs, to which Olina recommends the addition of com, of 

 spelt and oats properly cleaned, millet, flax seed, poppy, and 

 hemp seed bruised, and steeped in milk. They are in course 

 of time accustomed to live on grain of every kind ; but Frisch 

 tells us, that when they receive nothing but hemp seed, they are 

 liable to become black. It is said that mustard seed produces 

 a contrary effect. We are assured by Frisch, that they have 

 this peculiar instinct, to taste their food with the tongue 

 before they eat it. 



The males are brought up in aviaries, or spacious cages, 

 for the enjoyment of their song throughout the whole year. 

 They have sufficient memory and flexibility of throat to 

 retain and imitate foreign sounds, and to repeat them more 

 agreeably than almost any other bird can do. At Paris, a 

 lark has been seen which could whistle distinctly seven airs 

 after the bird organ. 



The males intended to be preserved for singing, should be 

 taken in October or November ; but their voice does not 

 acquire its full developement until after two years. If they 

 are taken large, their wings must be tied, lest by springing 

 violently they should break their heads against the roof of 

 their cage ; but it is better to cover it with stuff of some kind, 

 to prevent the danger of killing themselves, by following 

 their natural habit of rising perpendicularly. The cage 

 should be without any cross stick, and furnished at bottom 

 with fresh turf, often renewed. Another indispensable pre- 



