SKY LARK. 78 
Famity ALAUDIDA. 
SKY LARK. 
ALAUDA ARVENSIS, Linn. 
Pl. XI., figs. 8-15. 
Geogr. distr.—Palwarctic Region generally ; common everywhere 
in Great Britain, and resident. 
Food.—Insects, snails, worms, seeds, and tender grasses. 
Nest.—Loosely constructed of dried bents and grasses, and lined 
with fragments of finer grass-stalks. 
Position of nest.—On the ground in fields of clover, lucerne, cereals, 
beans, &c.; also in depressions in meadows, cemeteries, moor-land, &e. 
Number of eggs.—4-5. 
Time of. nidification—IV-V1; end of May. 
The eggs lie in the nest with the small ends towards the 
middle; only four are said to be deposited at the first 
sitting ; 1 have nests taken both in May and June con- 
taining only that number. The mother bird displays 
considerable persistency in attending to her young, and 
is very careful in concealing her nest as much as possible. 
A remarkable instance of this came under my notice some 
years ago, when visiting the Isle of Sheppy: happening to 
meet a shepherd, I asked him if he ever met with 
Larks’ nests; he led me back about three yards, and _ 
pointed to a patch of water-weed at the edge of the path 
as a nest; I stooped down and found that the weed was 
regularly interlaced in the edge of the nest over which it 
fell, completely concealing it. I asked the shepherd how 
he had discovered a nest thus ingeniously hidden, and he 
replied by asking me two questions, ‘‘ How far is it from 
any fresh water?” and ‘“‘ How could the weed get there by 
itself?’ There can be no doubt that many nests are thus 
passed by the educated but unreflecting collector which 
do not escape the eye of those whom Nature alone has 
instructed; as a matter of fact, most Larks’ nests are 
discovered by rustics: to the ordinary untrained eye they 
appear merely like a small hole containing four or five 
pebbles, and they therefore attract no particular attention ; 
the hole itself is not so deep or so conspicuously lined as 
that of the Nightingale, otherwise it would doubtless be one 
of the most easy to find, for there can be no question as 
to its being abundant. 
