early, and to rear two or more broods. The eggs, like the Sky-Lark’s, are four or five in number, and of a 
reddish-white ground, spotted and freckled with brown. 
The composition of the nest appears to vary with the nature of the materials at hand, — being sometimes 
formed of dry grass, lined with finer blades intermingled with hair — at others of coarse grass and roots, 
mixed occasionally with moss and the skeletons of decayed leaves, lined with finer materials of the same 
kind, and always a few hairs. Professor Newton informed Mr. Hewitson that in the neighbourhood of 
Thetford, in Norfolk, “ the localities to which the birds are most partial are old sheep-walks in the vicinity 
of Scotch fir trees. On places such as these the herbage is so scanty that they can hardly be said to 
choose a tuft of grass as the situation of their nests, though they generally select a spot where the bents 
are thickest. I have, however, found a nest where the turf was as short as on a well-kept lawn, and I have 
seen one secluded in a clump of heather. Their nests are usually more compact than those of the Sky- 
Lark, and will bear being taken up from the hole in which they are built.” 
“Tlie Wood-Lark,” says Mr. Hewitson, “breeds annually in Oatlands Park, where heath and fir trees 
are abundant. In the spring of 1849, on the 4th of April, Mr. J. Hancock found a nest and eggs within a 
few yards of my bouse. It was fortunately well sheltered in a tuft of rough, dry grass ; for some days after, 
when the old bird was sitting very close, it was completely covered, for some hours, by a heavy storm of 
snow.” — III. Blit. Birds, vol. i. p. 180. 
Mr. Yarrell states that the voice of the Wood-Lark “ has neither the variety nor the power of that of 
the Sky-Lark, but is superior to it in quality of tone, and by many persons preferred on that account. 
There is also a plaintive character in its song, which is second only to that of the Nightingale ; and, like 
that bird, it is said also to sing during warm summer nights. Several writers have heard this Lark sing sweetly 
even in the months of December and January; and as the season advances, being an early breeder, it is heard 
to advantage in March and April, while wheeling in circles, and sometimes hovering high in air.” 
“ Sometimes,” says the Rev. C. A. Johns, “ especially during sunshine after a summer shower, it alights on 
the summit of a lofty tree, to ‘ unthread its chaplet of musical pearls ; ’ and its simpler lulu notes may be 
heard as it flies from place to place, vvhile but a few feet above the surface of the ground.” 
M4ien taking flight, the Wood-Lark at first ascends for a short distance in a vertical line, but soon changes 
to a spiral progress, during which the area of each circle is increased until it has attained the height it 
desires ; it then floats or hovers for a time, and again descends in a similar manner, with outstretched and 
apparently motionless wings, until it reaches the ground, along which, on alighting, it runs for a short 
distance. Selby says that it will continue in the air for a whole hour — and Bechstein, for several hours, 
singing all the while without intermission. 
The old birds and the young of the year generally keep together during their first winter in small flocks, 
and are seldom seen in more numerous parties. The food consists of grain, seeds of various kinds, insects 
and worms ; if the weather be very severe the M^ood-Lark associates with Sparrows, Buntings, and other 
birds in endeavouring to obtain food in stack-yards and the neighbourhood of barns and out-houses. The 
young being in great request as cage-birds, they are eagerly sought for, and are captured in great numbers 
every year. 
There is no difference in the colouring of the sexes. 
The Plate represents a male and a female, of the size of life. 
