61 
is, that the hen will sometimes lay eggs without having any 
connection with the male. One, in the possession of a friend 
of Bechstein's, laid every year as many as from twenty to 
twenty-five eggs, hut could never be induced to sit. Larks 
will breed in confinement, if kept in garden aviaries, where 
they can have plenty of fresh air and exercise ; in a cage or 
room they are not so likely to breed, but will do so some- 
times 
THE WOODLARIC 
This is a very melodious songster, not so loud and shrill 
as its more familiar congener last described ; but generally 
most prized by amateurs in bird music, on account of its 
rich and flute-like tones. It is but two-thirds the size of 
the skylark, that is about six inches in length, and it closely 
resembles that bird in the colour of its plumage, and gene- 
ral markings. It has the crest erectible at pleasure, and 
the long hind toe, so characteristic of the true lark. It is a 
plump, compact little bird, haunting the thick hedges and 
>eafy woodlands, often in the neighbourhood of cultivated 
lands, and often too in more wild and solitary districts. 
Thus on the brown northern moors, and at the skirts of the 
Grampians, these birds are frequently found, and being 
early breeders, generally laying their first eggs about the 
end of March, their young often perish in cold and incle- 
ment seasons. Woodlarks remain in this country the year 
through; but they are shy birds, and by no means very 
common even in the comparatively few localities which they 
frequent. They do not congregate in flocks like the sky- 
larks ; even in hard weather one seldom sees more than a 
family party of six or seven at the same time. At such 
.times they have a particularly mournful cry, resembling 
the syllables lu lu, long drawn out, hence the scientific name 
of the bird, Alauda lulu. Their food then is small seeds, 
grain, and such green herbage as can be got at ; in summer 
they feed chiefly upon insects, both in the pupa and larva 
state. The woodlark's nest is generally placed upon the 
ground, beneath a low bush or rank herbage, among the 
roots of a tree where the primroses and violets peep out 
from their mossy beds to see if the summer is yec come. 
