Forms and etym.: see WOOD sb.1 and LARK sb.1 A species of lark (Alauda arborea) that perches on trees; distinguished from the skylark by having a shorter tail, more variegated plumage and a different song.

1

c. 1325.  Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 164. La calaundre [gloss wode-larke].

2

c. 1340.  Nominale (Skeat), 808. Esperuer tele et chalaundre and wodelarke.

3

1544.  Turner, Avium Praecip., E 1 b. Superest tertium galeritæ genus, Germanis copera. Marg. a uuodlerck.

4

1686.  [see SKYLARK sb. 1].

5

1769.  G. White, Selborne (1789), 69. In hot summer nights woodlarks soar to a prodigious height and hang singing in the air.

6

1818.  Keats, Walking in Scotland, 14. Wood-lark may sing from sandy fern.

7

1868.  Morris, Earthly Par., Man born to be King, 1496. Mid them [sc. yew-trees] did the woodlark flit, Or sang well sheltered from the wind.

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