668 
BIRD-LIFE. 
with the sweetest strains, as a reward for the care he 
bestows upon it. Unfortunately the Wood Lark cannot 
hear confinement for any great length of time, and rarely 
lives over two years in a cage; if, however, it is so little 
calculated to he kept as a caged companion, it is surely 
still more cruel to capture it wholesale, along with its 
more amenable relation the Sky Lark, for the sake of the 
table. The person who would take such a lovely songster 
for the sake of roasting it is, in my opinion, a far lower 
creature than the Sparrowhawk, Hobby, or other pre¬ 
datory animals, who make no distinction as to their 
prey. 
