THE SKYLARK. 231 



tamed at Portmarnock : it is preserved in Mr. T. W, Warren's 

 collection. 



In a few other instances, but without particulars, I have had 

 reports of the wax-wing's occurrence in Ireland. In all the years 

 of its visits to this island, positively known, it has been met with 

 in England likewise. It appears there as with us, only at rare 

 and uncertain intervals. 



THE SKYLARK. 



Common Lark. 



Alauda arvensis, Linn. 



Is common throughout Ireland, 



And partial, according to my observation, to marine islets off 

 various parts of the coast. To judge from the British works in 

 which this bird is treated of, its song, re-commenced in the 

 autumn, would seem to be continued longer into the winter in 

 this island than elsewhere ; — a result attributable to the humidity 

 and mildness of the climate. It may be heard as frequently in 

 fine bright days during the month of October, even in the bird's 

 most elevated haunts in the mountain pastures about Belfast, as 

 at any other season. One note may be given on this subject ; 

 November the 1th, 1835 : — "I never heard more skylarks singing 

 at any period of the year, than in the early part of tins day, in the 

 high pastures bounded by the heath in the Belfast mountains, at 

 an elevation of about 1000 feet above the sea. The day was fine 

 and bright ; the ground very wet from continued rain throughout 

 the days and nights of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, early part of the 

 5th, and occasionally since, until this morning." Montagu 

 remarks, that this bird is " rarely seen on the extended moors at a 

 distance from arable land/' and later British authors repeat the 

 observation. The wild mountain pasture, however, is in Ireland 

 a favourite abode, and there, as mentioned in the following note, 

 the delightful voice of the skylark may occasionally be heard at 

 a rather late hour, mingling with the bleating of the snipe : — June 



