ALAUDID.E — THE LARKS. 141 



Eremophila alpestris, Boie. 



THE SHORE LARK. $ ^ 



Sp. CnAR. Adult mule: spring. A frontal cre.'scent, curving batkward in a broad, 

 sharply defined, superciliary stripe to the occiput; chin, throat and foreneck, and a crescent 

 across middle of ear-coverts, whitish, either more or less tinged with yellow, or pure 

 white. Lower parts, except laterally, white. A broad crescentic patch behind the 

 frontal whitish crescent, running back on each side of the crown and terminating in an 

 erectile tuft of narrow elongated feathers on each side of occiput, a patch covering the 

 lores, nasal tufts, passing beneath the eye, and forming a broad "mustache" on the 

 cheeks, with a convex outline behind and concave anteriorly, and a broad crescentic patch 

 acro.^s the jugulum, deep black. A crescentic spot of grayi.sh-drab across the ends of the 

 auriculars. Posterior portion of the crown enclosed laterally between the " ear-tufts," 

 occip\it, nape, lateral lower parts, lesser and middle wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts, 

 pinkish-brown ; the sides and flanks with obsolete dusky streaks. Back, scapulars, rump, 

 wings, and two middle tail-feathers, ashy-drab, the feathers darker centrally, forming 

 rather conspicuous broad streaks on lower part of back ; middle and secondary coverts, 

 secondaries and primaries bordered terminally, quite conspicuously, with white. Tail 

 (except the intermedia^) black ; outer web of lateral feather almost entirely white, tliat 

 of the next edged with the same. 



Adult female ; spring. Similar, but markings rather less sharply defined ; a tendency 

 to streaking of nape and crown; these streaks often displacing the continuous black of 

 the anterior portion of crown. The " ear-tufts" less developed. 



Winter adult. Similar to the spring dress, but the black areas obscured, more or less, 

 by whiti.sh borders to the feathers; the frontal whitish band less sharply defined. Breast 

 with numerous more or less distinct deltoid specks of plumbeous, and the pinkish of the 

 sides much tinged with the same. The dusky streaks above are broader and more con- 

 spicuous. 



Voting. First plumage, entirely different from the adult. Above dusky, variegated 

 with whitish dots, sprinkled over the whole surface; these specks terminal on each 

 feather, and of a deltoid form, becoming more transverse and crescentic on the scapulars 

 and rump; each feather of the wings broadly bordered with pale brownish, approaching 

 white on the coverts. The blackish areas are but faintly indicated by a dusky suffusion, 

 generally very indistinct, across the breast, and over the cheeks; and variegated with 

 badly defined, more dusky spots; lower parts, including post-ocular stripe, dull white; 

 sides spotted with dusky. 



Tlie E. aliKstris, as restricted, is represented in the collection by tliree 

 perfect specimens, in the several stages of plumage described ; while there 

 is also a fine specimen from Astrachan, representing a white-tlu-oated race 

 (" var. hex " on ^IS. label) of Central Asia. The series of American specimens 

 is all Unit coidd possibly be desired, there being numerous examples from 

 nearly the whole northern continent, from the Arctic regions to as far south 

 as Bogota, and from coast to coast. 



The common Shore Lark of the northern parts of North America appears 

 to be absolutely identical with the European bird, each of the specimens of 

 the latter being easily matched from the American series. It therefore 

 becomes necessary to reduce the name " corn n fa" to a .synonyme of alpestris, 



