Attractive Qualities.—Of all the species of larks the wood lark has the finest song, and to my taste it is, of all our indigenous birds (always excepting the nightingale), the one whose natural notes are the most delightful. Its clear flute-like voice executes a sonorous, tender, and somewhat melancholy air. In the country it rises from the tops of the trees so high in the air that the eye can scarcely discern it, and there remaining stationary, the wings and the tail expanded, it sings uninterruptedly for hours together; it sings in the same manner when perched on a tree.
In the house, it is from a retired corner, tranquil and motionless, that it utters the different modulations of its beautiful voice. The singing time in its wild state is from March to July; in the house, from February to August. The female, like other larks, sings also, but her strains are shorter and less sustained. These birds appear to be subject to whims: I have seen some which would never sing in a room or in the presence of an auditor. These perverse birds must be placed in a long cage outside the window. I have remarked that in general these obstinate birds are the best singers. Their abrupt step and various frolics, in which they raise the feathers of the head and neck, are also very amusing.
THE TITLARK.
Anthus arboreus, Bechstein; L’Llouette Pipi, Buffon; Die Waldpieper, Bechstein.
This is the smallest of our larks; its length is but five inches and a half, two and a half of which belong to the tail, which it carries and moves like a wagtail, and by this characteristic it seems to stand intermediate between the larks and the wagtails. The sharp beak is dark brown above and whitish below; the iris is brown. The shanks are three quarters of an inch high, and light flesh-coloured; the angle of the hind toe is short and crooked. The head, rather oval than round, is, with the neck, back, rump, and sides, of an olive brown with black wavy spots.
The female differs from the male only in the paler yellow of the throat, neck, and breast; the white spot in the second tail-feather is also smaller, and the two transverse bands on the wings are whiter. The young males of the first year have the under part of the body of a lighter yellow than those which are older.
Habitation.—When wild, with the exception of the most northern parts, this species is found all over Europe. They build in great numbers in Germany and England, in mountainous and woody places, and establish themselves by preference on the skirts of forests, in fields, and orchards, in their neighbourhood, or in the cleared parts of woods. In the month of August they arrive in small flights in fields and enclosures planted with cabbages, where caterpillars abound. In September they pass into the oat fields, and in October they are caught in the nets with the common larks. The time of their return is about the end of March; and if the cold is severe they collect by thousands in damp fields and near warm springs. One peculiarity of this species is the having during the rest of the year a call different from that of the breeding season. It no longer perches on trees and bushes, but remains on the ground, crying “pitt, pitt,” (or rather, I think, “guik, guik,”) while in the sitting time the cry is more tender, expresses more solicitude, “tzip, tzip,” and is heard only in the immediate neighbourhood of the nest. As soon, therefore, as this cry strikes the ear, we may be sure the nest is not far off; and if the young are hatched we shall soon see the father or mother with a beakful of insects, redoubling and increasing the cry as they approach their precious charge. The other cry of “pitt” or “guik” is never heard at this season; whence it happens that sportsmen and bird-catchers make two species of this same lark; one they name the heath lark, whose call in the woods is “tzip,” and the other the cabbage lark, which in the fields calls “guik.” I have never been able to convince these people of their error, but by showing them in my bird-room the same lark which called “guik” in the autumn and winter, and “tzip” in the summer. We may judge by this circumstance how many mistakes and errors may slip into natural history, when in the determination of species we meet with things which we can neither see nor verify.
In confinement, I have been accustomed to let the calling lark range freely among my other birds, because I would not trouble myself to give it a particular cage. I own, however, that it would be better so circumstanced, on all accounts, as well in regard to its health as its song. This cage should be long, like that of the sky-lark, and furnished with two sticks, because this kind perches.