ALAUDA, lark, in ornithology, a genus of birds of the order of Passercs ; the characters of which are, that the beak is cylindrical, subulate, and straight, bend ing towards the point, the mandibles are of equal size,"ind opening downwards at their base; the tongue is bifid ; and the hinder claw is straighter and longer than the toe. Pennant adds, that the are covered with feathers or bristles, and the toes divided to their origin. There arc 33 species, but we shall notice only two of them. 1. A. arvensis, or skylark, the specific characters of which are, that the two outermost quills of its tail are white lengthwise externally, and the in termediate ones are ferruginous on, the inside : the length is about seven inches. The males of this species are somewhat browner than the females; they have a black collar, and more white on the tail ; their size is larger, and their aspect bold er; and they exclusively possess the fa culty of singing. When the female is im pregnated, she forms her nest between two clods of earth, and lines it with herbs and dry roots, being no less attentive to the concealment than to the structure of it. it sometimes builds its nest among corn and in high grass. Each female lays four or five eggs, which are greyish, with brown spots; and the period of her incu bation is about 15 days. The young may he taken out of the nest when they are a fortnight old, and they are so hardy, that they may be easily brought up. The pa rent is very tender of her young: and though she does not always cover them with her wings, she directs their motions, supplies their wants, and guards them from danger. The common food of the young sky-larks is worms, caterpillars, ant's eggs, and even grasshoppers ; and in maturity they live chiefly on seeds, herbage, and all vegetable substances. Those birds, it is said, that are destined for singing, should be caught in October or November ; the males should, as much as possible, he selected: and when they are untractable, they should be pinioned, lest they injure themselves by their vio lence against the roof of the cage. As they cannot cling by the toes, it. is need less to place bars across their cage ; but they should have clean sand at the bottom of it, that they may welter in it, and be relieved from the vermin which torment them. In Flanders, the young ones are fed with Inoistened poppy-seeds andsoak ed crumbs of bread ; and, when they be gin to sing, with sheep'sand calves' hearts, hashed with hard eggs; to which are added, wheat, spilt-oats, millet, linseed. and the seeds of poppy and hemp, steep ed in milk. Their capacity of learning to sing is well known ; and so apt are some cock larks, that, after hearing a tune whistled with the pipe, they have caught the whole, and repeat it more agreeably than any linnet or canary bird. in sum mer the lark 'seeks the highest and driest situations; but in winter they descend to the plains, and assemble in numerous flocks. In the former season they are A-cry lean, and in the latter very fat, as they are always on the ground, and con stantly feeding. In mounting the air, they ascend almost perpendicularly, by suc cessive springs, and hover at a peat height ; but in descending, they make an oblique sweep, unless they are pursued by a ravenous bird, or attracted by a mate, in either of which cases they fall like a stone. These small birds, at the height to which they soar, are liable to be waft ed by the wind; and they have been ob served at sca, clinging to the masts and cordage of ships. Sir flans Sloane ob serred sorne of them 40 miles from the coast, and Count Marsigli met with them on the Mediterranean. it is conjectured that those which are found in America have been driven th;ther by the wind. Some have supposed, that they are birds of passage, at least in the more southern and milder climates of Europe ; but they are occasionally concealed under some rock or sheltered cave. The lark is found
in all the inhabited parts of both conti nents, as far as the Cape of Good Hope ; this bird, and the wood-lark, are the only birds which sing whilst they fly. The high er it soars, the more it strains its voice, and lowers it till it quite dies away in de scending. When it ascends beyond our sight, its music is distinctly heard; and its song, which is full of swells and fidls, and thus delightful for its variety, commences before the earliest dawn. In a state of freedom, the lark begins its song early in the spring, which Is its season of km e and pairing, and continues to warble during the whole of the summer. The honourable Daines Barrington reckons this among the best of the singing larks ; and as it copies the warble of every other bird, lie terms it a mocking-bird. These birds, which are esteemed a deli cacy for the table, though Linnmus thinks the food improper for gravelly complaints, are taken with us, in the greatest num bers, in the neighbourhood of Dunstable. The sea.son begins about the 14th of September, and ends the 25th of Febru ary ; and during this time, about 4000 dozen are caught, for supplying the Lon don markets. Those -caught in the day are taken in clap-nets, till the 14th of November. But when the weather be comes gloomy, and also in the night, the larker makes use of a trammel-net, 27 or 28 feet long, and five broad, which is put on two poles 18 feet long, and carried by men under each atsn, Who pass over the fields, and quarter the grounds, as a setting dog. When they see or feel a lark strike the net, they drop it down, and thus. the birds are taken. The dark est nights are the most proper for their sport ; and the net will not only take larks, but all other hints that roost on the ground ; among which are wood cocks, snipes, partridges, quails, field fares, and several others. In the depth of winter, people sometimes take great numbers of larks by nooses of horse-hair. The method is this : take 100 or 200 yards of packthread; fasten at every six inches a noose made of double horse-hair; at every 20 yards the line is to be peg ged down to the ground, and so left rea dy to take them. The time to use this is when the ground is covered with snow, and the larks are to be allured to it by some white oats, scattered among the nooses. They will soon fly to them, and. in eating, will be hung by the noofies. They must be taken away . as soon it-S three or four are hung, otherwise the rest will be frightened ; but though the others are scared away just where the sportsman comes, some will be feeding at the other end of the line, and the sport inay- be thus continued for a long time. As the sky-lark is a kind of mocking-bird, and apt to catch the note of any other which hangs near it, even after its olvil note is fixed, the bird-fanciers often place it next to one which has not been long caught, in order to keep the caged sky lark honest. Plate II. Aves, fig. 1. 2. A. arborea, wood-lark of English wri ters, is specifically characterised by a white annular belt, encircling its bead. This bird is smaller than the sky-lark, and of a shorter thicker form ; the co lours of the plumage are paler ; the first feather of the wing is shorter than the second; the hind claw is very long- and somewhat bent ; it perches on trees; it haunts the uncultivated tracts near copses, without penetrating the woods, whence its name ; its song resembles more the warble of the nightingale, or the whist ling' of the black-bird, than that of the sky-lark, its note being less sonorous and less varied, though not less sweet ; and it is heard not only in the day, but in the night, both when it flies and when it sits on a bough. This bird builds on the ground, and forms its nest on the outside with moss, and on the inside with dried bents, lined with a few hairs, and conceals it witb a turf ; and the situation it selects is ground where the grass is.