EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 255 



THE AVOOD LARK. 

 (Alauda arborea.)* 



Plate 58, Fig. 8. 



The Wood Lark seems to be nowhere very common, but is 

 found in well-planted districts where the soil is sandy or at least 

 dry. It avoids wet or clay land, but probably breeds in suitable 

 districts throughout the southern half of England and Wales. 

 It is locally distributed throughout Central and Southern Europe. 

 In Scandinavia and West Russia it does not apparently range 

 further north or east than the valley of the Volga. 



The nest is always built upon the ground, and is generally well 

 concealed under the shelter of a tuft of herbage or a little bush, 

 or amongst tall grass ; whilst Professor Newton states that it is 

 sometimes placed on the smoothest turf, and that he has seen one 

 in a stump of heather. It is made of coarse grass, scraps of moss, 

 and a few bits of twitch, and is lined with finer grass and some- 

 times a little hair. The nest is generally placed in a little cavity, 

 and is much more firmly constructed than that of the Sky Lark 

 or the Tree Pipit. 



The eggs of the Wood Lark are four or five in number. They 

 vary in length from 0'9 to 0'78 inch, and in breadth from 0'7 to 

 - 6 inch. The eggs of this bird differ very considerably from 

 those of the Sky Lark, the only eggs with which they are at all 

 likely to be confused. The ground-colour is more exposed and 

 whiter, and the spots are reddish-brown instead of olive or neutral- 

 brown, and generally much smaller, better defined, and have not 

 such a tendency to become confluent. The eggs of the Wood 

 Lark also resemble those of the Crested Lark, but eggs of the 

 latter bird are larger, and on an average greener, but the pattern 

 of the spots and the general resemblance is very striking. 



THE CRESTED LARK. 

 (Alauda cristata.)f 

 Plate 58, Figs. 9, 10. 



The Crested Lark probably visits our islands more frequently 

 than is supposed ; for, partly owing to its habits and partly to its 



* Lullula arborea — Sharpe, Handb., I., p. 91. 

 t Galctita cristata — Saunders, Manual, I., p. 88. 



