alauda. 
<su the ground; among which are wood- 
cocks, snipes, paftridges, quails, field-fares, 
and several others. In the depth of winter, 
people sometimes take great numbers of 
larks by nooses of horse-hair. The method 
is this : take 100 or 200 yards of packthread ; 
fasten at every six inches a noose made of 
double-horse hair ; at every 20 yards the line 
is to be pegged down to the ground, and so 
left ready to take them. The time to use 
this is when the ground is covered with 
snow, and the larks are to be allured to it 
by some white oats, scattered among the 
nooses. They will soon fly to them, and, 
in eating, will be hung by the nooses. 
They must be taken away as soon as 
three or four are hung, otherwise the rest 
will be frightened; but though the others 
are scared away just where the sportsman 
comes, some will be feeding at the other 
end of the line, and the sport may be thus 
continued for a long time. As the sky-lark 
is a kind of mocking-bird, and apt to catch 
the note of any other which hangs near it, 
even after its own note is fixed, the bird- 
fanciers often place it next to one which 
has not been long caught, in order to keep the 
caged sky-lark honest. Plate II. Aves, fig. 1 . 
2. A. arborea, wood-lark of English wri- 
ters, is specifically characterised by a white 
annular belt, encircling its head. This bird 
is smaller than the sky-lark, and of a shorter 
thicker form ; the colours of the plumage 
are paler ; the first feather of the wing is 
shorter than the second ; the hind claw is 
very long and somewhat bent ; it. perches on 
. trees ; it haunts the uncultivated tracts near 
copses, without penetrating the woods, 
whence its name ; its song resembles more 
the warble of the nightingale, or the whistling 
of the black bird, than that of the sky-lark ; 
its note being less sonorous and less varied,' 
though not less sweet ; and it is heard not 
only in the day, but in the night, both when 
it flies and when it sits on a bough. This 
bird builds on tire ground, and forms its 
nest on the outside with moss, and on the 
inside with dried bents, lined with a few 
hairs, and conceals it with a turf; and the 
situation it selects is ground where the grass 
is rank, or become brown. It lays four or 
five eggs, which are dusky and blotched 
with deep brown ; its fecundity is inferior 
to that of the sky-lark, and its numbers are 
not so great : it breeds earlier, since its 
young are sometimes flown in the middle of 
March, and therefore they pair in Eebruary, 
at which time, and not before, they part 
with their last year’s brood ; whereas the 
common lark does not hatch before the 
month of May. This is a very tender and 
delicate bird ; so that it is impossible to rear 
the young taken out of the nest : but this is 
the case only in England and such cold cli- 
mates, for in Italy they are removed from 
the nest, and reared at first like the night- 
ingale, and afterwards fed upon panic and 
millet. The wood-lark feeds on beetles^ 
caterpillars, and seeds: its tongue is forked; 
its stomach muscular and fleshy; and it has 
no craw, but a moderate dilatation of the 
lower part of the oesophagus, and its coeca 
are very small. It lives ten or twelve years. 
The males are distinguished from the females 
by their larger size; the crown of the head 
is also of a darker colour, and the hind nail 
longer; its breast is more spotted, and its 
great wing-quills edged with olive, which in 
the female is grey. The wood-lark mounts 
high, warbling its notes, and hovering in the 
air ; it flies in flocks during the winter colds ; 
it is found in Sweden and Italy, and is pro- 
bably dispersed \through the intervening 
countries, and consequently over the greatest 
part of Europe. It is also found in Siberia, 
as far as Kamtschatka, and likewise in the 
island of Madeira. The best time for taking 
this bird for the cage is July, or the preced- 
ing or following month. Those that are 
put into the cage at this time, sing presently, 
but their song-time is not lasting, for they 
soon fall to moulting, in which state many 
die ; but if they get over it, they commonly 
prove very healthful afterwards, become 
very tame and familiar, and sing sweetly. 
Those which are. taken in the latter end of 
September are generally very strong and 
sprightly; but they do not sing till after 
Christmas. Those taken in January and 
February finally prove the best of all; they 
generally begin singing in two or three days, 
or at the utmost in a week after they are 
taken. The cock-bird of this kind is known 
from the hen by the loudness and length of 
his call, by his tallness as he walks about 
the cage, and by bis doubling liis notes in 
the evening, as if he were going with his 
piate to roost. A better rule than all 
others, however, is his singing strong ; for 
the hen wood-lark sings but very weakly. 
Both the cock and hen of this kind are 
tender, and subject to many disorders; the 
principal of these are cramps, giddiness of 
the head, and breeding lice. Cleanliness is 
the best cure for the first and the last of 
these complaints ; but we know of no cure 
for the other. A good strong bird will last 
very well for five or six years, and frequently 
improve during the whole of this time. The 
lark is not only a very agreeable bird for 
