62 
THE SKYLARK. 
in vast numlbers ; while hovering and screaming over the 
place. Sometimes straw is used for the same purpose, 
being previously strewed near the reeds and alder bushes, 
where they are known to roost, which being instantly set 
on fire, the consternation and havoc are prodigious ; and the 
party return by day to pick up the slaughtered game. 
About the first of November, they begin to move off towards 
the south ; though, near the sea-coast, in the' states of New 
Jersey and Delaware they continue long after that period. 
THE SKYLARK. ( Alauda arvensis.') 
One of the most celebrated of all the English birds is the 
Skylark. His music being associated with the rural em- 
ployments and pleasures of that enlightened and refined 
nation, has occasioned his being described in rapturous 
terms by their poets and novelists. 
The Skylark is generally distinguished from most other 
birds, by the long spur on his back toe, the earthy colour 
of his feathers, and by singing as he mounts up in the air. 
The common Skylark is not much bigger than the house- 
sparrow. These birds generally make their nest in meadows 
among the high grass, and the tint of their plumage resembles 
so much that of the ground, that the body of the bird is 
hardly distinguishable as it hops along. 
