LARK. 277 



Alb. i. pi. 43. Id. Song Birds, pi. p. 53. Collins, Birds, pi. G. f. 4. & pi. 10. 

 f. 10. Bewick, i. pi. p. 185. Shuiu's Zool. x. 540. Lewin, iii. pi; 98. Walcol , 

 ii. pi. 191. Pidt. Dors. p. 8. Orn. Diet. 



LENGTH five inches and three quarters, weight about four 

 drachms, forty grains. Bill slender, dusky, base of the under 

 mandible pale ; irides hazel ; plumage on the upper parts greenish 

 brown, the middle of the feathers much darker ; over each eye a pale 

 trace ; under parts dusky white, but the breast in some inclines to 

 yellow, and marked with longish dusky black spots; tail dusky 

 black, the outer feather white on the outer edge the whole length, 

 but on the inner only half way from the end ; the next with only a 

 white spot at the tip; legs yellowish, claws brown. 



This bird is common in England, and remains with us the whole 

 year, but does not seem to affect particular situations ; more frequent 

 on the moors and downs, and in the winter may be confounded with 

 the Field Lark ; it makes the nest on the ground, among the furze 5 

 &c. composed of bents and dried grass, lining it with finer grass, and 

 sometimes with horse hair ; the eggs vary, sometimes dark brown, at 

 others whitish, thickly speckled all over with rufous brown, or pale 

 brown, tinged with red ; generally six in number, weighing from 24 

 to 26 grains each:* in winter, frequent in the lower grounds, in 

 search of insects,f and fly in small flocks, but never congregate J like 

 the Skylark ; the song is not unlike that of the Field Lark, but 

 much inferior, though some have compared it with the Canary Bird, 

 and others to the Nightingale; but we suspect that the two birds have 

 been confounded with each other ; it feeds both on insects and seeds, 

 and has been kept for a year on the latter. Mr. White says, that 

 when kept in a cage it will often sing in the night time. 



* Orn. Diet. f They are found at Gibraltar, in October, in numerous 



flocks, on all parts of the Isthmus, and on the Hill, together with the Wagtails, attending 

 assiduously about the legs of cattle. 



% Will often, in severe weather, wade up to the belly in watered meadows, in search of 

 insects, and their pupa, in the floating grass and weeds. 



