tained at Portmarnock: it is preserved in Mr. T. W. Warren's collection. In a few other instances, but without particulars, I have had reports of the wax-wing's occurrence in Ireland. In all the years of its visits to this island, positively known, it has been met with in England likewise. It appears there as with us, only at rare and uncertain intervals. THE SKYLARK. Common Lark. Alauda arvensis, Linn. Is common throughout Ireland, AND partial, according to my observation, to marine islets off various parts of the coast. To judge from the British works in which this bird is treated of, its song, re-commenced in the autumn, would seem to be continued longer into the winter in this island than elsewhere ;-a result attributable to the humidity and mildness of the climate. It may be heard as frequently in fine bright days during the month of October, even in the bird's most elevated haunts in the mountain pastures about Belfast, as at any other season. One note may be given on this subject; November the 7th, 1835:-"I never heard more skylarks singing at any period of the year, than in the early part of this day, in the high pastures bounded by the heath in the Belfast mountains, at an elevation of about 1000 feet above the sea. The day was fine and bright; the ground very wet from continued rain throughout the days and nights of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, early part of the 5th, and occasionally since, until this morning." Montagu remarks, that this bird is "rarely seen on the extended moors at a distance from arable land," and later British authors repeat the observation. The wild mountain pasture, however, is in Ireland a favourite abode, and there, as mentioned in the following note, the delightful voice of the skylark may occasionally be heard at a rather late hour, mingling with the bleating of the snipe :-June the 22nd, 1840. "At half-past seven o'clock this evening, when on the highest part of the old road from Belfast to Crumlin, perhaps 850 feet above the sea, larks were busily engaged singing on every side, at the same time that snipes (Scolopax Gallinago) were bleating, and giving utterance to their other calls. The mingling of the notes of the two species, so very dissimilar, had a singular but most pleasing effect." The skylark is generally noticed by authors as singing only when on wing; yet it not very unfrequently pours forth its song from the ground, and when perched on furze or whins, &c. Mr. Poole remarks, that the skylark occasionally mounts up to sing during rain, but does not remain long, merely ascending and quickly descending again: nests are noted by him as containing young birds in the middle of April, and which were fledged by the 1st of May. An observant friend has on different occasions known several circular holes to be made by pairs of these birds, before fixing upon one for their nest. In very cold winters, our indigenous larks congregate in large flocks, which remain with us unless the weather become extraordinarily severe, when they move more or less southward. Even when the winter is mild in the north of Ireland, these birds generally migrate hither from Scotland, in small or moderate flocks, and have repeatedly been seen crossing the Channel by my friend Capt. Fayrer, R.N., during the several years that he commanded the mail steam-packet, which plied between Portpatrick and Donaghadee.* Although the autumn of the year 1832 had been very fine and mild, I saw so early as the 17th of October, a very large flock of larks, which had doubtless migrated to this country. In the winter of 1837-38, larks remained in flocks until a late period on the 24th of March I remarked not less than sixty congregated. The skylark occasionally exhibits variety in its plumage, though less frequently than some others of our small birds. The collec * In the “Annual Register" under date of January the 10th, 1814, it is stated, that "The Hillsborough Packet, on the passage from Portpatrick to Donaghadee, was literally covered, on the rigging and deck, by a flock of larks: they had taken their departure from some place at or near Portpatrick, and in order to have a rest by the way, swarmed about the packet. So soon as they got near shore, they made a rapid flight for the land." A tion of my friend Wm. Sinclaire, Esq., contained one of a black colour, which was shot in a wild state among a flock, as was a pure white one-a true albino, with red eyes-which is in the collection of J. V. Stewart, Esq. One, with primaries, secondaries and tail, snowy white, and, like the others, shot in a wild state, has come under my notice. Birds are of course more subject to melanism when caged, than in a state of nature. A young male skylark of 1843, kept by Mr. Darragh, curator of the Belfast Museum, changed at the autumnal moult of 1845 to black, which colour was assumed by its entire plumage excepting on the upper portion of the neck, where on close examination, a little very darkbrown might be observed. This bird was fed on bread, potatoes, groats, and hemp-seed. Death ensued soon after the black plumage was exhibited. It panted much, as if for want of breath, and on dissection after death, a fleshy tubercle was found outside the lower portion of the windpipe. In Dec., 1846, Mr. Darragh received a black lark to preserve, which had been three years in the possession of the person with whom it died, during the one half of which period the plumage had been black. A considerable portion of its food during the whole time was hemp-seed. Its skull was remarked to be extremely thin, so much so, as to be compared to silk-paper. This was likewise the case in another black lark, which he set up. Both birds were males and excellent singers. The claws of caged larks kept by him have grown to the length of two inches. A lark which had its liberty within the greenhouse of a relative, lived eight years there, and was eventually lost by effecting its escape. Nowhere perhaps is the skylark more sought for as a caged-bird than in Ireland, and the song given forth "right merrilie" from the little patch of green-sward within its prison, seems to imply that the bird bears confinement well. But it is always with regret that we see the lark, whose nature is to pierce the clouds when singing, so circumscribed, and we cannot but wish for its own sake that it had the freedom of "fresh fields and pastures new;" yet we do not, like a class of persons in the world, think only of the skylark. To the poor artisan in the town, this bird is of great service by enlivening him with its song, associated with which in his mind are doubtless scenes in the country, the love of which is instinctive to the human breast. The lark, too, is generally treated with affectionate care, and the first walk of its master in the very early morning, before the day's task begins, has for its object, the providing of a "fresh sod" for his pet bird. The following anecdote, communicated by my late venerable friend, Dr. M'Donnell of Belfast, shows the high value once set upon a skylark:-"A rather poor chandler in Belfast, called Huggart, had a lark remarkable for its song. Mr. Hull, a dancingmaster and great bird-fancier, going into his shop one day, said, he came to purchase his bird. Indeed,' replied the other, 'I do not think, Mr. Hull, you are likely to get home that bird, which delights all my neighbours as well as myself.' 'Well, I think I am,' was the reply: 'here are five guineas for it.' The sum was instantly refused; when ten guineas were offered, but also rejected. He was then told, 'It is now the the fair-day, and the market full of cattle; go and purchase the best cow there, and I shall pay for her.' But Huggart still declined, and kept his lark." When looking at the great quantity of wheatears and larks from different parts of England, exposed in their respective seasons in the shops of the London poulterers and game-dealers, I could not but think how much better small birds are treated in Ireland, than they are even in England. The indiscriminate butchery of species in France, Italy, and other continental countries, is shocking. True, in the south of Ireland, there is the silly hunting of the wren on one or two holidays, but even this has lately been interdicted, and to his credit be it mentioned, by Mr. Richard Dowden, when Mayor of Cork. It is common for skylarks, as remarked by Sir Wm. Jardine, to "bask in the sun and dust themselves, like the Rasores:"* as, may be added, sparrows also frequently do. The stomachs of several larks which came under my examination, especially in winter, contained grains of wheat, seeds, and the remains of other vegetable matter, with an occasional insect-larva: they * Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 325. all exhibited fragments of stone. The occasional flying of this species to man, for protection from birds of prey, is noticed under sparrow-hawk. The skylark is most eloquently descanted on in the "Recreations of Christopher North," vol. iii. p. 21. Over the greater portion of Europe the Alauda arvensis is common. The localities most distant from the British islands in which this bird has come under my own observation, were the Morea, and about Smyrna, where it was seen in April and May. THE CRESTED LARK. Alauda cristata, Linn. Is said to have been once obtained in Ireland. A description and figure of the bird which appeared in the Dublin Penny Journal of February the 27th, 1836 (vol. iv. p. 276.), contains all that is known of it. The writer, who signs "J. W. R.," announces the bird under the name of Alauda cristata, and states that he killed one near Taney, a few weeks before. Mr. Yarrell informs us, in the second edition of his British Birds. (vol. i. p. 456), that since the publication of the preceding notice, a crested lark has been killed in Sussex: the only one known to have occurred in Great Britain. Major Walker, in a letter to me, written in June, 1846, from The Lodge, Kyle, co. Wexford, remarked, that he had "met with the crested lark in great numbers in Hungary, almost always in the villages and towns, rooting in the mud. Their German name is koth-lerche or mud-lark. Yarrell's figure is unfortunately from a dead bird, and so loses its resemblance to the living, in which the crest is always borne erect, except when spreading its wings to fly. It is so large that the bird attracts attention, and I for a long time tried to shoot one, but in vain, as, although familiar as sparrows, they were hardly to be met with except in towns, where I would not fire." The same gentleman subsequently remarked, that as soon as the first snow fell in the north of France, in the winter of |