148 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
confined either to Holywood or to the Lark it being 
popularly supposed that snakes attract small birds. 
Mr Fred V Theobald writing of the utility of this species 
savs • " The Skylark, although it takes a certain amount 
of corn has the balance in its favour, for it is most helpful 
as an insect-checker, including wire-worm "* 
In June, 1826, " a white Lark was caught on the tarm 
of Crawick Holm near Sanquhar."t 
Mr H E Dresser, in drawing attention to the geographi- 
cal forms of this species which have been claimed as 
distinct, writes : " von Tschusi Schmidhoffen describes the 
Scotch Skylark under the name AlaudM arvensvs scoHca 
(Orn. Jahrb., xiv., p. 162, 1903) as subspecifically distinct, t 
This "subspecies" was worked out from skins sent to 
Ritter von Tschusi SchmidhofEen by Mr. R. Service, who 
writes me that in his opinion " the distinction cannot be 
upheld in a long series." The actual fP— ^^^^,7" 
obtained at Barncleugh (Irongray ^^^''^^^'t^'^'^l 
in 1884, so close to our boundary, that were the Scotch 
Skvlark " to be recognised as a good subspecies, there is no 
reasonable doubt but that it would be found to occur in 
Dumfriesshire. Dr. Ernst Hartert, however doe« ^ot 
admit this form as distinct in his Die Vogd der palaark- 
tischen Fauna. 
[THE WOOD-LARK. Alauda arborea, Linnaeus. 
There is no satisfactory evidence as to the ™^ 
species in the county, and I have no doubt that the older 
records of the " Wood-Lark " refer to the Tree-Pipit. 
We read that the " Woodlark " was very common, m 
Johnstone (1792)§ ; " is found in the woods of Mouswald 
* Science Progress, 1907, Vol. II., p. 275. 
t Dumfries Courier, August 1st, 1826. 
X Eggs Birds Eur., p. 397. 
§ Stat. Acct. Scot., Vol. IV., p. 226. 
