162 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



October 23 and 30 : 'Larks bought at Carlyle, xx d .' A little 

 later we read : ' Larks, 2 dozen, viii d .' In 1618, between Sep- 

 tember 12th and 19th, there were booked '20 dozen of larkes, 

 V s .' ; and a week later, ' 58 dozen of larkes, xiii s . vj d .' Between 

 September 26th and October 3d, we have '60 dozen of larkes, 

 xi s / ; also '33 dozen of larkes, vj s . vj d .' Again: '40 dozen of 

 larkes, vj s . vj d ' In 1621 we have an entry prior to September 

 29: 'Larkes, 39 dozen d., x s . iiij d .' Before October 27 we 

 read: 'Larkes, 21 dozens, v s . iiij d .' Under April 8, 1634, we 

 find entered, ' 8 duzin of land larkes, by Eichard Storye, 

 delivered at Corkby, ij 3 .' This Lark nests as freely on our salt 

 marshes as in our fields, and the young leave the nest before 

 they are fully fledged, relying instinctively on their protective 

 colouration assimilating closely to the ground colour. 



WOOD LARK. 



Alauda arborea, L. 



Some few years ago I found a charming little colony of Wood 

 Larks established in the neighbourhood of Canierton. Subse- 

 quently I traced the species as an occasional breeding bird to St. 

 Bees and Ravenglass. Since then I have seen it near Kendal, 

 where Dr. Gough considered it to be rare in 1861, though not 

 uncommon some years earlier. Mr. F. P. Johnson told me that 

 a pair of Wood Larks nested at Castlesteads a few summers ago, 

 and Mr. W. Hodgson thought that he recognised this species in 

 Ulleswater. I fancy that it must be a very uncommon bird in 

 Lakeland, otherwise my intimate acquaintance with the species 

 must have produced a good many more localities for its presence. 

 It is almost equally scarce as a winter visitant. T. C. Heysham 

 recorded the capture of a Wood Lark taken near Carlisle, in Feb- 

 ruary 1833. Others have been caught of late years at Raven- 

 glass and Allonby in the winter-time. The only Wood Lark 

 which the late B. Greenwell ever saw in Cumberland was shot 

 by himself near Alston in March 1866. He gave me the skin 

 of this bird a year or so before his death. 



