180 
ALAUDIDiE. 
having found one upon the stump of a felled tree. 
Mr. Hoy informed me that he has found the eggs early 
in March in mild seasons, and as late as the end of July ; 
they are four or five in number, and are readily known 
from those of the sky-lark and the pipits, by their lighter 
ground-colour; they are not subject to much variety, 
but are sometimes marked with blotches of vinous colour¬ 
ing. When fresh and unblown they are of a beautiful 
rose colour. 
Mr. Newton tells me, that the Woodlark is not un¬ 
common in his neighbourhood, near Thetford, but that it 
is very local. “That 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 the thickest; I have, 
however, found a nest where the turf was as short as 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/’ 
The Woodlark breeds annually in Oatlands Park, where 
heath and fir-trees are abundant. In the Spring of J 849, 
on the 4th of April, Mr. J. Hancock found a nest and 
eggs within a few yards of my house. It was fortu¬ 
nately well sheltered in a thick tuft of rough dry grass, 
and some days after, when the old bird was sitting very 
close, it was completely covered for some hours by a 
heavy storm of snow. The note of the Woodlark, one 
of the earliest of the year, has a peculiar charm,—a wild 
cadence, which, to my ear, is not surpassed by any bird 
of summer. 
