THE SKYLARK. 
the following mixture will agree with them very well. Six 
spoonfuls of fine oatmeal, three or four large sweet- almonds, 
a spoonful of brown sugar, a spoonful of carraway seeds, and 
two spoonfuls of rape oil. Let all these ingredients be well 
mashed together, and rubbed through a sieve. If you feed him 
on this, take ‘care that at the same time he has a plentiful sup- 
ply of green food, such as lettuce, watercress, endive, &c. If 
instead of the paste you feed the skylark upon poppy-seed, 
crushed hemp, lean beef, and ants’ eggs, he will not require so 
much green food. When old larks are first taken, they should 
be fed entirely on poppy- seed and oats. 
Diseases oe the Skylark, and How to Cure Them. — The 
skylark is subject to almost all the diseases that afflict other 
birds. There is one malady, however, which seems to be pecu- 
liar to larks, and that is a sort of yellow scale at the base of 
the beak. This, no doubt, arises from impurity of the blood, 
and the way to eradicate it is to give the bird laxative seeds, a 
great deal of green food, and a few mealworms. 
Looseness of the bowels frequently attacks the skylark. This 
may be cured by putting a little saffron into their drinking- 
water, and grating up a small piece (as large as a hazel nut, 
say), of dry old Cheshire cheese, and mixing it with their 
food. Half a teaspoonful of ground rice in the food- glass 
and six drops of port wine in the water-glass is another remedy 
for scouring. 
