TRIBE III.— OONTROSTRES. 



In this tribe are embraced those birds ^\■hich are distinguished by a beak of considerable 

 length, and, as the name intimates, of a more or less conical form. And it is ^^■orthy of 

 remark, that the more decidedly conical the couhguration of this organ, the more exclu- 

 sively do hard seeds and grains constitute the diet of the bird in its adult state. The 

 common sparrow, for example, is a bird that lives on barley, oats, peas, and other farina- 

 ceous matter ; but in this, as in most cases, the mifledged young are chiefl)' fed on 

 caterpillars and insects, as well as grain softened in the crops of theii- parents. Other 

 forms of the beaks of birds denote a preparation for a dilferent kind of nutriment. 



Family the First — Fkingiixid.e, or the FI^•cHEs. — Here are arranged an immense 

 multitude of small birds, the tenants of the groves and hedgerows, while many join their 

 clear strains to the chorus of the wilds and moorlands. We shall give some specimens of 

 each of the varieties. 



THE LARKS.* 



THE SHORE lAKK.f 



The shore lark is one of the most beautiful of the genus. It properly inhabits the 

 north as well of Europe, as of America, as far as Yii'ginia ; but in the winter it appears 

 in Germany, where it may bo seen by the road-side picking for its food tlio undigested 

 grain in horse-dimg. It i^crches like the wood-lark. It is caught in the southern parts 

 of Thuringia, with lime-twigs or nets, at its return in March, when there has happened 

 to be a heavy fall of snow. 



The appearance of this bird is in some respects peculiar, in having certain long black 

 feathers which extend, by equal distances, beyond each other above the eyebrow : these 

 are longer, more pointed, and of a different texture to the rest around them, and the 

 bird has the power of erecting them so as to appear as if horned. The head of this bird 

 is slightly crested, and the forehead, throat, sides of the neck, and line over tlie eye, are 

 of a delicate straw, or Naples yellow, elegantly relicN'od by a bar of black ; tlie back 

 and wings are drab coloured, mingled with reddisli, each feather of the former having 

 a streak of dusity black down the centre ; the tail is black and forked ; and the breast is 

 of a dusky vinous tinge. J 



" It is," says Wilson, "one of our winter birds of passage, arriving from the nortli 

 in the fall, usually staying with us the \\lu)le winter, frequenting sandy plains and open 

 downs; and is numerous in tlie southern states, as far as Georgia, during that season. 

 They fly high in loose scattered flocks, and, at these times, have a single ciy, almost 

 exiictly like the sky-lark of Britain. They are very numerous in many tracts of New 

 Jersey, and they arc frequently brought to the Philadelphia market. They arc tlien 

 generally very fat, and are considered excellent eating. Their food seems to consist of 

 .small vuLind compressed black seeds, buckwheat, oats, &c., with a large proportion of 

 "■ravel. On the fiat commons within the boundaries of Philadelpliia flocks of them are 

 regularly seen during the whole winter. In tlie stomach of tliesc I liave found, in 

 numerous instances, quantities of the eggs or larva^ of certain iu.sects mixed witli a kind 



• Alautk. — I, inn. f .Maudii AlpcstiLs.— J^imi. | Wilson. 



