INSESSORES I 



199 



ALAUDID^E, OR SKYLARK FAMILY. This Family com- 

 prises birds with a short conical bill, the first primary very 

 short or wanting, tertiaries greatly elongated beyond the 

 secondaries, tarsi scutellate before and behind, and the 

 hind claw very long and nearly straight. 



The Genus Ercmophila has the first primary wanting, 

 and the nostrils circular and concealed by a dense tuft of 

 feathers. 



The Skylark or Shore Lark, E. conmta, Boie, of the 

 plains and prairies of North America and in the Atlantic 

 States in winter, is seven and three quarters inches long, 

 the wing four and a half inches ; the color above pinkish 

 brown, the feathers of the back marked with dusky ; a 

 band across the crown and running back along the lateral 

 tufts, a crescentic patch from the bill below the eye and 

 along the side of the head, and a pectoral crescent, black ; 

 the frontal band and under parts white ; chin and throat 

 yellow. It sings sweetly while on the wing, but its song 

 is short. It rises obliquely from the ground for about 

 forty yards, be- 

 gins and ends 

 its song, then 

 performs a few 

 evolutions and 

 returns to the 

 ground, where 

 it also sings, but 

 less frequently, 

 and with less 

 fulness. The 

 nest is built on 

 the ground ; the eggs are four or five, grayish, with nu- 

 merous pale-blue and brown spots. 



The Skylark of Europe, E. arvcnsis, is brown above, 

 whitish beneath, and spotted with deep brown. Next to 



Fig. 117. 



Skylark, E. cornnta, Boie. 



