The sky-lark inhabits all parts of Europe, even as high as Nordiand, beneath the arctic circle ; but in some parts of Scandinavia it is migratory. It is likewise met with in all parts of Russia am: Siberia, reaching even Kailas chatka. It abounds, too, in other tracts of Asia, and in Africa; but it seems to be unknown in America. With it is most common in the open and upland cultivated districts allotted to corn, being rarely seen on extensive moors remote from arable land. The nest is placed on the ground, often between two clods of earth, among grass, clover, turnips, or corn, and is formed of dry grass, and other vegetable stalks, or roots, or hair, and lined with grass of a finer quality. The eggs, which are generally four or five, haVe a greyish ground, and are spotted with brown. The incubation lasts fourteen or fifteen days; and, in the temperate parts of Europe, two broods are produced in the course of the summer ; but in some of the southern regions, as, for example, in Italy, three young families are brought forth, namely, the first early in the second in July, and the third in August. Even in this country the bird will lay as late as Septem ber, if its nest happens to be destroyed. When the young are hatched, the mother watches over them with the most tender solicitude for about a fortnight, feeding them with the chrysalids of ants, with worms, insects, and in some countries, with the eggs of locusts. Hence, in the island of Lemnos, where these last-mentioned insects occasional ly pullulate, and commit great havock on the vegetable produce, the sky-lark is deemed a sacred bird. In their mature state, these birds live chiefly on seeds, herbage, and many other vegetable substances. They are easily tamed, and become so familiar as to eat off the table, and even to alight on the hand; but they cannot readily cling by the toes, on account of the form of the hind one, which is too long and straight. The instinctive warmth of at tachment which the female bears to her young, often be trays itself at a very early period, and even before she is influenced by the cares of maternity.
The sudden appearance of immense flocks of sky larks Egypt and other at particular and the circumstances of their being occasionally observed a very emaciated and exhausted state, and of their being noticed at sea, leave no doubt with respect to the fact of their partial migration; but it is equally certain, that they do not all quit the countries in which they breed ; and thus we are enabled to reconcile the discordant sentiments of ornithologists; at the same time, the motives which in duce only a portion of the species to shift their abode do not readily suggest themselves to conjecture. The lark is one of those few birds which chaunt on wing, becomes tuneful early in spring, and continues so throughout the summer. Its enlivening song is chiefly heard in the morn ing and evening. We need scarcely remark, that he mounts almost perpendicularly, and by successive springs into the air, where he hovers at a great height, and whence lie descends in an oblique direction, unless menaced by some ravenous bird, or attracted by his mate, when he darts down to the ground like a stone. When he first leaves the earth, his notes arc feeble and interrupted ; but as lie rises, they gradually swell to their full tone; and they are sometimes still distinctly heard when he is scarce ly visible. These birds cease to be musical in winter,
when they assemble in flocks, grow fat, and are taken in multitudes by the bird-catchers. Thus, four thousand dozen have been captured in the neighbourhood of Dun stable, between September and February; and Keysler informs us, that the excise on larks alone produces about 9001. a-year to the town of Leipsic, whose neighbourhood, like those of Naumburgh, Merseburg, Halle, &c. is cele brated for larks of a peculiarly delicate flavour.
arborea, Lin. &e. A. nemorosa. Gmel. A. crista tella, Lath, Wood Lark, or Lesser Crested Lark. Va ried with dusky-grey, and reddish ; the head with an an nular stripe, bordered with white. This considerably resembles the preceding, but the tail is much shorter, and the feathers on the head are longer. Length between five and six inches ; weight eight drachms. It inhabits Europe, as far north as Sweden, and is met with, though sparingly, in various parts of this country, particularly Devonshire, where it seems to abound more than in any other part of England. According to Pennant, it occurs in Siberia and Kamtschatka. It sings delightfully on wing, but rarely when sitting on the ground, though sometimes when perched on a tree. Although its song does not con sist of so great a variety of notes as that of the sky-lark, it is much more melodious, and frequently uttered during the night, insomuch that it has been mistaken for the nightingale. With the exception of June and July, when it is silent, it is more or less musical all the year round, for it will sing even after Christmas, in frosty wea ther, if there be sunshine about mid-day. It does not ascend into the air perpendicularly, and continue hover ing and singing over the same spot, as the preceding, but it will soar to a great height, and keep flying in large irregular circles, singing with little intermission, and will thus continue for an hour together. The nest is usually placed in a hollow on the ground, covered with grass or heath, or in the middle of thick moss, composed externally of the dried stalks of grass, and lined with soft herbage and hair. The eggs, to the number usually of four or five, are of a dirty white, tinged with brown and spotted with reddish. During incubation, which takes place in April, the male serenades his mate with his sweetest notes; but when the young are hatched, he pauses from his lays, and assists in the cares of rearing the new family. There is occasionally a second brood. In spring, these birds frequent dry sloping grounds, inter spersed with bushes or briars, but always on the verge of woods, In they prefer stony are ob served to unite in compact bands, consisting of from thirty to fifty individuals, which never mingle with any other species. If they alight, they keep close by one another ; and, if scared, they rise awkwardly, and with apparent reluctance, frequently descending on the spot from which they were started. During the same season, however, separate pairs may also be seen ; and it seems to he ascertained, that, like the sky-lark, they are partial mi grants. They arc easily decoyed by the call of one of their kind ; but the mature birds are so strongly attached to their family habits, that they soon pine and die in a cage.