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NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. 37 



Family ALAUDID.E. Genus Galerita. 



CRESTED LARK. 



Galerita cristata i^Limiceus). 



(British : Rare abnormal autumn migrant.) 



Single Brooded probably. Laying season, end of 

 March to early June, according to latitude. 



Breeding area : South-west Palaearctic region. 

 The typical form of the Crested Lark breeds in Central 

 and Southern Europe from about lat. 60° down to the 

 Mediterranean. It is rare in the extreme northern 

 limits of its distribution, but south of the Baltic may 

 be said to be common in all localities suited to its 

 requirements. 



Breeding habits : The Crested Lark has a strong 

 partiality for loose sandy soils, and its favourite breeding 

 grounds are sandy heaths, and fields, and rough unen- 

 closed lands, although in Algeria I met with it {G. cris- 

 tata magna) in the Atlas at an elevation of five thousand 

 feet on the rough stony hill-sides. It is gregarious to a 

 certain extent during winter, but passes the summer in 

 scattered pairs without any perceptible approach to socia- 

 bility. The males are persistent singers during the early 

 part of the breeding season, warbling in a Pipit-like way 

 in the air as well as on the ground, or whilst perched on 

 a bush or a telegraph wire. The nest of the Crested Lark 

 is almost invariably made upon the ground, although 

 instances are on record where it has been found on old 

 earth-walls or amongst the thatch of sheds in the fields. 

 The favourite sites are amongst the herbage of the 

 fields, even on fallows, but in wilder districts the nest is 

 frequently placed under a bush or amongst stones. It 

 is composed externally of dry grass, stalks of plants, 



