THE SKYLARK. 347 
editice, composed chiefly of grasses, and lined with hair. The eggs are five 
in number, and their colour is white, with a dash of very pale purple, and 
dotted and scribbled all over with dark purple-brown. Both dots and lines 
are most variable, and it also frequently happens that an egg appears with 
hardly a mark upon it, while others in the same nest are entirely covered 
with the quaint-looking decorations. 
The general colour of this bird is bright yellow, variegated with patches of 
dark brown, and having a richly-mottled brownish yellow on the back, with a 
decided warm ruddy tinge. The primary feathers of the wing are black, edged 
with yellow, and the remainder of the feathers throughout, with all the wing- 
coverts, are deep brown-black, edged with ruddy brown. The chin, throat, 
and all the under parts of the body are bright pure yellow, sobering into 
rusty brown on the flanks. The female is similarly marked, but is not so 
brilliant in her hues. The total length of the bird is about seven inches. 
THE ORTOLAN, or GARDEN BUNTING, is widely celebrated for the delicacy 
of its flesh, or rather for that of its fat; the fat of the Ortolan being some- 
what analogous to the green fat of the turtle in the opinion of gourmands. 
The Ortolan has occasionally been shot in England, but it is most fre- 
quently found on the Continent, where its advent is expected with great 
anxiety, and vast numbers are 
annually captured for the table. 
These birds are not killed at once, 
as they would not be in proper 
condition, but they are placed in 
a dark room, so as to prevent 
them from moving about, and are 
fed largely with oats and millet, 
until they become mere lumps 
of fat, weighing nearly three 
ounces, and are then killed and 
sent to table. 
The colouring of this bird is 
as follows: The head is grey, 
with a green tinge, and the back SKYLARK. —(A/auda arvensis.) 
is ruddy brown, beautifully mot- 
tled with black. The wings are black, with brown edges to the feathers ; 
the chin, throat, and upper portions of the breast are greenish yellow; and 
the abdomen is warm buff. The total length of the Ortolan is rather more 
than six inches. 
THE LARKS may be readily recognized by the very great length of the 
claw of the hind toe, the short and conical. bill, and the great length of the 
tertiary quill feathers of the wing, which are often as long as the primaries. 
The first example of these birds is the well-known SKYLARK, so deservedly 
famous for its song and its aspiring character. 
This most interesting bird is happily a native of our land, and has cheered 
many a sad heart by its blithe jubilant notes as it wings skyward on strong 
pinions, or flutters between cloud and earth, pouring out its very soul in its 
rich wild melody. Early in the spring the Lark begins its song, and con- 
tinues its musical efforts for nearly eight months, so that on almost every 
warm day of the year on which a country walk is pacticable, the Skylark’s 
happy notes may be heard ringing throughout the air, long after the bird 
which utters them has dwindled to a mere speck, hardly distinguishable from 
a midge floating in the sunbeams. 
The nest of the Skylark is always placed on the ground, and generally in 
sone little depression, such as the imprint of a horse’s hoof, the side of a 
