BRITISH SONG-BIRDS. 75 



able to feed themselves. Their food, from this 

 time, is loaf bread, minced egg, and hemp-seed. 

 In the first week, or ten days, the hemp-seed may 

 be slightly bruised, and a little of the soft food, 

 viz. bread, milk, and whole rape-seed, may be put 

 in a dish at one corner of the cage, that they may 

 take it if inclined. Put a little fine gravel on the 

 bottom of the cage, also a turf of grass or of fine- 

 leaved clover. This must be given them every 

 four, five, or, at most, six days; but the dry bread, 

 eggs, and hemp-seed must be renewed every se- 

 cond day. 



The male and female larks are so extremely like 

 each other, that it is not easy to distinguish the 

 cock-bu'd. The length of the claw of the hind 

 toe, the white feathers of the tail and wings, and 

 even the crest, are marks not to be depended up- 

 on. The best method, we believe, for judging of 

 a song-bird, is to take the largest and longest bird, 

 and put it in a cage, when, if a cock-bird, in less 

 than a month it will " record :" — ^this is a techni- 

 cal word for warble or sing. 



Description and Plumage. 

 The lark is elegantly shaped, — its length nearly 



