WOODLARK. 
327 
forked, and a great portion of the outer, with the 
exterior web of the second feathers white. The 
cheeks are wood brown, the breast a paler and 
more yellow shade, spotted with longitudinal 
marks of brownish black ; the remaining under 
parts are yellowish white, nearly pure on the 
centre of the belly. Legs and feet are yellowish 
brown. The female scarcely differs. Cream- 
coloured and nearly white varieties occur. 
The Woodlark, Alauda arborea, Lirm. 
— Alauda arborea, Linn. — Woodlark of British 
authors . — This species, as the familiar name indi- 
cates, is more woodland in its habits than the 
last, or indeed than any species with whose 
habits we are acquainted. At the same time, it 
is not an arboreal bird, perching even but rarely, 
but frequenting pasture lands and cultivated fields 
in a woodland country, or one interspersed with 
old hedges and copses of brushwood. It is cele- 
brated also for its song, which by all its describers 
is stated to be melodious, and more richly toned 
than that of the last, while it is deficient in varia- 
tion and compass. The song is also uttered while 
on the wing, but the flight is described to be in 
wheeling circles, occasionally hovering, and not 
in the gradual perpendicular ascent to a great 
height, as performed by the last. It also some- 
times, but less frequently, sings from the branch 
of a decayed tree. The nest is placed on the 
ground, under shelter of some tuft and herbage, 
and in structure is somewhat similar to that of 
