IN medieval Britain, eating skylarks was believed to cure ailments of the throat.
Meanwhile, in Italy, eating larks was considered to be a remedy for liver disease.
These are among the nuggets in nature writer John Lewis-Stempel’s engaging new book - The Soaring Life of The Lark.
It is only a short volume - fewer than 100 pages - but it is a highly-readable compendium of insights about this very special bird, not least as an inspiration to countless poets (notably Shelley) and musicians such as Vaughan Williams.
Borrowing from one of his earlier books, Where Poppies Blow, the author also describes how the song of the skylark provided cheer to soldiers - presumably in both sets of trenches - on the Western Front in the 1914-18 war.
He laments how larks were once exploited in their thousands by the caged birds trade. (Remarkably, they still sang, even in confinement.)
Importantly, Stempel-Lewis also provides a reminder of the ongoing decrease in their population in Europe as the result of modern intensive agricultural methods.
Can anything be done?
"Yes and easily," he writes. "One simple solution is for the 'skylark plot' which costs next to nothing in money or time.
"Such plots help the birds forage for food once the crops grow and become dense.
"If there were a thousand such plots, the decline of the skylark could be halted."
It is a nice thought, but is this really so?
The sad fact, surely, is that on most farms there are insufficient insects to enable the species to flourish.
The decline of the skylark is therefore likely to continue.
The Soaring Life of The Lark is published by Doubleday Books at £9.99.
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