Alauda cristata, LINNÆUS; Le Cochevis, ou la grosse Alouette
huppée; Die Haubenlerche, BECHSTEIN.
This bird is stronger than the sky-lark, and its colour is lighter, but
its length the same. The beak is lead-coloured, and brown at the point,
is also rather longer; the iris is dark brown. The shanks are an inch
high, and yellowish gray; the head, the cheeks, the upper part of the
neck to the upper part of the back, are of a reddish gray, caused by the
wide red edges of the feathers, which are brown in the middle; a reddish
white line, hardly perceptible above the eyes, but very distinct beyond,
extends from the nostrils to the ears; eight or ten long-pointed
blackish feathers rising on the head form a beautiful perpendicular
crest.
The crest of the female is lower, but her breast is covered with more
numerous and rounder spots than the male.
HABITATION.--When wild it is only in autumn and winter that they
appear in Saxony in small or large flights, beside the high roads, on
dunghills, near barns and stables, among sparrows and
yellowhammers; they are also found all over Europe, from Sweden to
Italy[62]; in summer, they frequent the thickets and bushes of the
plains, fields, and meadows, or they inhabit the hollows of ditches,
paths in woods, and elevated villages. They depart in October.
In the house they may be kept in cages, like the sky-lark, or be left
to run about. I know no bird whose feathers grow so quickly; if the
wings are kept clipped, this must be repeated every three or four
weeks, as by that time they are so much grown that they may serve
for flying about the room.
FOOD.--When wild this bird lives, like the sky-lark, on insects,
different sorts of seeds, and oats. In the house it is fed with the
same things, but it becomes more robust and healthy than the
sky-lark.
BREEDING.--This species forms its nest on the ground, under little dry
bushes, under garden vegetables, on clay walls, and even on thatched
roofs. The eggs, in number from four to five, are of a rusty gray,
shaded and spotted at the upper end with dark brown. The first
plumage of the young before moulting is variegated white. They are
taken from the nest when the feathers are half grown to be tamed and
taught airs, or to have them instructed by other birds whose song is
admired; they learn every thing with the greatest ease.
DISEASES.--They are the same as those of other larks. A lousy disease
may be added. I possess two male crested larks, one of which has
hardly any of the lice which so commonly torment birds, whilst the
other, which is nevertheless as gay and musical, is so covered with
them that he cannot be touched without having the hand filled with
these nasty insects. He has been with me four years, and though he
has maintained for a long time millions of these parasites, he
continues in good health, which I attribute to his abundant supply of
good food.
Is this produced by a difference in the cleanly dispositions of these
two birds, or is it a constitutional difference?
MODE OF TAKING.--When, in winter, any spot has been remarked which the
larks prefer, a place must be cleared from snow, some oats and
poppy-seed be thrown upon it for a bait, and limed twigs, nets, or
even a simple gauze, be conveniently arranged, and soon plenty will
be caught.
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--The song of the crested lark is, in my opinion,
very inferior to that of the sky-lark; it seems composed of the
warbling of that and of the linnet; this bird sings also in the
night. Its time of singing lasts from February to August, but longer
in those birds which have been tamed from the nest. It has not the
tottering gait of the sky-lark, but runs nimbly, and moves its crest
in the most expressive way. It is rather quarrelsome, and has the
peculiarity that when it fights it continues to sing.