ALAUDA ARBOREA. 



Wood Lauk. 



Until very lately the egg of the Woodlark has been 

 known by few, and has been represented in most collec- 

 tions by that beautiful variety of the egg of the Tree Pipit, 

 which is drawn in Plate CXIV. Fig. 4 of this work. In my 

 various inquiries for the eggs, I was unable to obtain them, 

 and until supplied with a beautiful series of varieties by my 

 kind correspondent, Mr. Hoy, I had never seen them. 

 I have since received a nest and eggs from Mr. Doubleday, 

 taken in Epping Forest. 



The difficulty of procuring its eggs, may be accounted for, 

 by the value which is set upon the young birds, and the 

 eagerness with which they are sought in order to rear them 

 for the cage. 



The Woodlark, though not a rare bird, being met with in 

 most of the southern counties, is, I believe, nowhere 

 numerous. It has been frequently taken by the bird-catchers, 

 within a few miles of York, and is not unfrequent in various 

 parts of Derbyshire. It is partial to newly enclosed lands, 

 and to light, heathy districts, and makes its nest for the most 

 part, on those bare pastures which usually surround them, 

 especially if trees or plantations are near at hand. 



The nest, which is formed of coarse grass and roots, 

 mixed occasionally with moss, and the skeletons of decayed 

 leaves, lined with the same materials, though finer, together 

 with a few hairs, is placed in a tussock of grass, sometimes 

 at the foot of a scrubby bush. Mr, N. Wood mentions an 

 instance, in which he found one upon the stump of a felled 



