Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/333

LARK 315

most place in our literature, and there is hardly a poet or poetaster who has not made it his theme, to say nothing of the many writers of prose who have celebrated its qualities in passages that will be remembered so long as our language lasts. It is also one of the most favourite cage birds, as it will live for many years in captivity, and, except in the season of moult, will pour forth its thrilling song many times in an hour for weeks or months together, while its affection for its owner is generally of the most marked kind. Difficult as it is to estimate the comparative abundance of different species of birds, there would probably be no error in accounting the Skylark the most plentiful of the Class in Western Europe. Not only does it frequent almost all unwooded districts in this quarter of the globe, making known its presence throughout spring and summer, everywhere that it occurs, by its gladsome and heart-lifting notes, but, unlike most birds, its numbers increase with the spread of agricultural improvement, and since the beginning of the century the extended breadth of arable land in Great Britain must have multiplied manifold the Lark-population of the country. Nesting chiefly in the growing corn, its eggs and young are protected in a great measure from all molestation; and, as each pair of birds will rear several broods in the season, their produce on the average may be set down as at least quadrupling the original stock the eggs in each nest varying from five to three. The majority of young Larks seem to leave their birthplace so soon as they can shift for themselves, but what immediately becomes of them is one of the many mysteries of bird life that has not yet been penetrated. When the stubbles are cleared, old and young congregate in flocks; but the young then seen appear to be those only of the later broods. In the course of the autumn they give place to others coming from more northerly districts, and then as winter succeeds in great part vanish, leaving but a tithe of the numbers previously present. On the approach of severe weather, in one part of the country or another, flocks arrive, undoubtedly from the Continent, which in magnitude cast into insignificance all those that have hitherto inhabited the district. On the east coast of both Scotland and England this immigration has been several times noticed as occurring in a constant stream for as many as three days in succession. Further inland the birds are observed "in numbers simply incalculable," and "in countless hundreds." On such occasions the bird-catchers are busily at work with their nets or snares, so that 20,000 or 30,000 Larks are often sent together to the London market, and at the lowest estimate £2000 worth are annually sold there. During the winter of 1867-68, 1,255,500 Larks, valued at £2260, were taken into the town of Dieppe.^[1] The same thing happens in various places almost every year, and many persons are apt to believe that thereby the species is threatened with extinction. When, however, it is considered that, if these birds were left to continue their wanderings, a large proportion would die of hunger before reaching a place that would supply them with food, and that of the remainder an enormous proportion would perish at sea in their vain attempt to find a settlement, it must be acknowledged that man by his wholesale massacres, which at first seem so brutal, is but anticipating the act of Nature, and on the whole probably the fate of the Larks at his hands is not worse than that which they would encounter did not his nets intervene.

The Skylark's range extends across the Old World from the Faroe to the Kurile Islands. In winter it occurs in North China, Nepaul, the Punjab, Persia, Palestine, Lower Egypt, and Barbary. It sometimes strays to Madeira, and has been killed in Bermuda, though its unassisted appearance there is doubtful. It has been successfully introduced on Long Island in the State of New York, and into New Zealand – in which latter it is likely to become as troublesome a denizen as are other subjects upon which Acclimatization Societies have exercised their meddlesome activity. Allied to the Skylark a considerable number of species have been described, of which perhaps a dozen may be deemed valid, besides a supposed local race, Alauda agrestis, the difference between which and the normal bird is shown in the annexed woodcut (fig. 1), kindly lent to this work by Mr Dresser, in whose Birds of Europe it is described at length. These are found in various parts of Africa and Asia.

Fig. 1. – A, Alauda agrestis; B, Alauda arvensis.

The Woodlark, Alauda arborea, is the only other clearly-established European species of the genus, as now limited by some recent authorities. It is a much more local and therefore a far less numerous bird than the Skylark, from which it may be easily distinguished by its finer bill, shorter tail, more spotted breast, and light superciliary stripe. Though not actually inhabiting woods, as its common name might imply, it is seldom found far from trees. Its song wants the variety and power of the Skylark's, but has a resonant sweetness peculiarly its own. The bird, however, requires much care in captivity, and is far less often caged than its congener. It has by no means so wide a range as the Skylark, and perhaps the most eastern locality recorded for it is Erzeroum. while its appearance in Egypt and even in Algeria must be accounted rare.

Not far removed from the foregoing is a group of Larks characterized by a larger crest, a stronger and more curved bill, a rufous lining to the wings, and some other minor features. This group has been generally termed Galerita,^[2] and has for its type the Crested Lark, the Alauda cristata of Linnæus, a bird common enough in parts of France and some other countries of the European Continent, and said to have been obtained several times in the British Islands. Many of the birds of this group frequent the borders if not the interior of deserts, and such as do so exhibit a more or less pale coloration, whereby they are assimilated in hue to that of their haunts. The same characteristic may be observed in several other groups – especially those known as belonging to the Genera Calandrella, Ammomanes, and Certhilauda, some species of which are of a light sandy or cream colour. The genus last named is of very peculiar appearance, presenting in some respects an extraordinary resemblance to the Hoopoes, so much so that the first specimen described was referred to the genus Upupa, and named U. alaudipes. The resemblance, however, is merely one of analogy. The HOOPOE (q.v.) belongs to a totally distinct Order of birds, widely differing anatomically and physiologically, and we can hardly yet assume that this resemblance is the effect of what is commonly

1. See Yarrell (Hist. Br. Birds, ed. 4, i. pp. 618-621), where particular references to the above statements, and some others, are given.
2. The name, however, is inadmissible, owing to its prior use in Entomology.