88 
ALAUnilVE. 
one of the commonest of the land birds. Whatever may have 
l)een the character of tlie previous winter, large nnmhers return 
early in March, usually in straggling hocks, hut sometimes in 
compact companies of several hundred individuals, as witnessed 
by myself in March 1871. The time of departure varies 
according to the mildness or severity of the weather, hut I have 
not observed it gathering in hocks previously to the departure, 
the disappearance being very gradual. 
Throughout the whole of Shetland, the Skylark is held 
almost as sacred as the red-breast is with us ; therefore it is 
but seldom that either the birds or their eggs are disturbed. 
In some parts of the north isles, when the reason of this for- 
bearance is sought, the usual reply is, ‘‘ Weel, if ye look under 
a laverock’s tongue, ye’ll see three spots, and they say that 
every one is a curse upo’ him that interferes wi’ it.” 
Before the song commences, the birds may be observed 
crouching under walls or large stones, attempting a few gentle 
but not very musical notes. I have heard the song as early as 
the 22nd of February, but very often it is interrupted for 
weeks at a time by a run of bad weather ; however, when the 
warm weather has once fairly set in, the song is heard almost 
incessantly in every part of the whole group of islands. On 
looking over my notes, I find that in summer I have heard it 
in full song every hour in the twenty-four. As summer 
declines, the song ceases; but even in September it may 
sometimes be heard ; the note is then weak, tremulous, and 
undecided, so that I have often imagined it to be merely the 
first attem])t of a young bird. Possibly this autumnal modi- 
fication of the song may have given rise to the erroneous 
supposition that the woodlark sometimes visits Shetland. A 
well-known lover of birds has repeatedly asserted such a belief, 
but it has been grounded solely upon the fact that in autumn 
he often heard tlie song of a lark of some kind, which he failed 
to recognise, and wliicli he tlierefore assumed must he that of 
the woodlark. On a bright sunny morning, succeeding a lieavy 
fall of snow, the Skylark may frecpiently be heard singing 
