2850 Birds. 



interesting, the wood lark (Alauda arborea). On referring to such books as are within 

 my reach, I perceive that Mudie is the only writer who speaks unhesitatingly of this 

 bird as entitled to a place in the Scottish Fauna. Although, however, he takes notice 

 of its breeding generally on the skirts of the Grampians, and in other parts of the 

 country (' Feathered Tribes of the British Islands,' vol. ii. p. 11) he does not conde- 

 scend upon any particular locality in Scotland, where it is regularly to be seen and 

 heard. On the other hand, the occurrence of a specimen, even in Northumberland, 

 is by Selby considered so unusual as to be deemed worthy of being specially recorded 

 (Wood's ' British Song Birds,' p. 259). Sir William Jardine is still more explicit and 

 decisive, and he is unquestionably an authority deserving of great consideration : his 

 words, when speaking of the wood lark, are these: " We have not ourselves seen a 

 Scottish specimen, and cannot at present refer to any authentic instance of its cap- 

 ture." (' Naturalist's Library,' vol. xxiv. p. 328). It is, on this account, with great 

 satisfaction that I transcribe for the 'Zoologist' a communication in regard to the 

 bird in question, from Mr. Thomas Edward, of Banff, whom I have always found a 

 most accurate, as well as an enthusiastic and persevering observer of nature : — " While 

 walking through the plantations of Duffhouse this morning (May 27tb, 1850) I could, 

 amid the various songs of the birds which cheered me as I passed along, easily dis- 

 tinguish one which I had never heard before. Being familiar with the notes of our 

 resident species, as well as with those of the songsters which annually pay us a visit, 

 I felt certain, on that account, that the bird whose notes I had just heard must 

 hitherto have been a stranger in this quarter. Accordingly I proceeded in the direc- 

 tion from which the sounds were coming ; and after several windings and turnings, 

 I eventually got sight of the object of my pursuit, seated on the top of a wall near to 

 a field of grass, arid in full song. From the markings on its breast and neck, its lark- 

 like manner, and its dumpy appearance, I had little difficulty in recognizing it to be 

 the wood lark a very rare, or rather, so far as I am aware, an entirely new visitor to 

 this locality. The sound, which I heard frequently repeated during my stay, con- 

 tinued without interruption for nearly two minutes each time, and contained some of 

 the sweetest notes of bird harmony I had ever listened to. It appeared to me to 

 partake much of the mellow warblings of the thrush ; of the liquid silver tones of the 

 redbreast; and in a less degree of the strains of the sky lark, all sweetly blended to- 

 gether, and having the last note beautifully drawn out into a soft mellifluous cadence 

 as it faintly died away, leaving on the ear of the listener a pleasing sensation, which 

 created a longing to hear it again repeated. Delighting, as the wood lark is said to 

 do, in a district of plantations interspersed with pasture lawn, and not being a species 

 which is migratory, at least to any distance, there is a prospect of its increasing and 

 becoming permanent in our locality. On this account it is to be hoped that it may 

 meet with every encouragement and protection. Such, I feel certain, will be the 

 wish of the noble proprietor, in whose grounds it has thus been discovered for the 

 first time." It would appear to be, generally speaking, the case, at least in Scotland, 

 that the more locally distributed of the warblers, &c, spread themselves gradually 

 over the country with the draining of marshes, the cultivation of barren heaths, and 

 the increase of shrubberies and sheltered plantations. The melodious blackcap 

 (Curruca atricapilla) had never been seen nor heard in the woods around Duffhouse 

 till about fifteen years ago. It is now, however, by no means uncommon in that lo- 

 cality, and it seems to give a preference to beechen groves, more especially where the 



