208 CLASS AVES. 



and charms his mate, engaged in her maternal cares. From 

 the time the young family b\irsts the shell, the sire takes his 

 share in their education ; but his songs are over, for the love 

 which created his melody is at an end. 



The eggs are four or five in number, of a dirty white, 

 tinted with brown, and picked out with reddish. The nest is 

 usually concealed near the borders of woods, in some furrow 

 covered with grass or brambles, and in the midst of a thick 

 moss. Some stalks of dry grass constitute the external enve- 

 lopement, and the inside is carpeted with soft grass and cattle 

 hair. Spring is the season to look for these birds, and they 

 are usually found on half-barren hillocks, where briars, &c. 

 grow, but invariably on the edge of woods. During winter 

 they occupy stony fields. In this season many families unite 

 and form serried flocks, of from thirty to fifty in number, 

 never mingling with any other species. They then utter a 

 sort of plaintive cry, resembling the sound of the syllables 

 lulu^ from which they have been thus named. On the ground 

 they always remain close together ; and when flushed, to use 

 the sportsman's term, they do not fly to a distance, but rise 

 by degrees, always whirling, passing and repassing over the 

 spot they have quitted, vittering from time to time, certain 

 rallying cries, and frequently concluding by dropping down 

 in the same place anew. They may, however, be occasionally 

 met in this season in isolated couples. Some of them are also 

 known to emigrate, while others remain in their native 

 habitat. 



The social disposition of these birds, and the uneasiness 

 which they so frequently manifest, by their rallying cries 

 after any of their strayed companions, present tlie means of 

 catching them with greater facility. In hunting them, one of 

 their own species is used as a decoy. They are frequently 

 caught in nets with smaller meshes than those used for the 



