The Skylark 

 THE SKYLARK 



Alauda arvensis, Linnaeus 



Of all other birds the Lark is perhaps the one which 

 typifies most thoroughly the freedom of life, and brings 

 to our minds scenes of wide open country, where, bright, 

 free, and unrestrained, he pours forth his song in the bound- 

 less expanse of the air. 



Hatched in a neat nest of bents and dry grass lined with 

 finer materials and placed on the ground in the middle of 

 an open field, the youthful Lark has early to contend with 

 enemies. Mice and other ground vermin, or the heavy foot 

 of some grazing cattle, frequently destroy the nest and its 

 contents, and the fact that so many escape must be largely 

 ascribed to good luck. 



His food is of a very varied nature and nothing comes 

 amiss. The young are fed exclusively on insects, but after 

 leaving the nest they spend their time eagerly feeding 

 on seeds, berries, or anything that comes their way. 

 As summer wanes, giving place to autumn, they collect in 

 large flocks and seek the stubble fields, where the scattered 

 grain gives them abundant nourishment, and on which they 

 become very fat. It is at such times, while they are asleep 

 by night, that they are netted by hundreds for the market. 

 This form of catching can, however, only be successfully 

 carried out shortly after dark on the blackest of nights, for, 

 like all wild animals, they seem to rest with one eye open, 

 and should there be the faintest glimmer of light they will 



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