234 
ALATJDIDiE. 
of great service by enlivening him with its song, associated with 
which in his mind are doubtless scenes in the country, the love of 
which is instinctive to the human breast. The lark, too, is gene- 
rally treated with affectionate care, and the first walk of its master 
in the very early morning, before the day’s task begins, has for its 
object, the providing of a “fresh sod” for his pet bird. 
The following anecdote, communicated by my late venerable 
friend, Dr. McDonnell of Belfast, shows the high value once set 
upon a skylark : — “A rather poor chandler in Belfast, called Hug- 
gart, had a lark remarkable for its song. Mr. Hull, a dancing- 
master and great bird-fancier, going into his shop one day, said, 
he came to purchase his bird. ‘ Indeed/ replied the other, f I do 
not think, Mr. Hull, you are likely to get home that bird, which 
delights all my neighbours as well as myself/ ‘Well, I think I 
am/ was the reply : ‘ here are five guineas for it/ The sum was 
instantly refused; when ten guineas were offered, but also rejected. 
He was then told, ‘ It is now the the fair-day, and the market full 
of cattle ; go and purchase the best cow there, and I shall pay for 
her/ But Huggart still declined, and kept his lark.” 
When looking at the great quantity of wheatears and larks from 
different parts of England, exposed in their respective seasons in the 
shops of the London poulterers and game-dealers, I could not but 
think how much better small birds are treated in Ireland, than they 
are even in England. The indiscriminate butchery of species in 
Erance, Italy, and other continental countries, is shocking. True, 
in the south of Ireland, there is the silly hunting of the wren on 
one or two holidays, but even this has lately been interdicted, and 
to his credit be it mentioned, by Mr. Bichard Dowden, when 
Mayor of Cork. 
It is common for skylarks, as remarked by Sir Wm. Jardine, 
to “bask in the sun and dust themselves, like the Basores as, 
may be added, sparrows also frequently do. The stomachs 
of several larks which came under my examination, especially 
in winter, contained grains of wheat, seeds, and the remains 
of other vegetable matter, with an occasional insect-larva : they 
* Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 325. 
