lOO THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Certainly this striking bird (Plate 42) is commoner with us 

 than it used to be, and authorities agree that its breeding 

 range has spread further west in northern Europe, and pre- 

 sumably its winter wanderings also. The older naturalists 

 were quick at noticing its occurrence, but looked upon it as a 

 vagrant, whereas now it is a regular bird of passage rather than 

 a winter visitor on our eastern shores from Kent to the 

 Shetlands. To the west coast of England and Wales it is still 

 a rare wanderer, but its visits are certainly becoming more 

 frequent ; it has once been observed in Ireland. The majority 

 of the birds appear in autumn, but some pass on return 

 migration. 



As the names implies, the shore is the most likely place to 

 meet with this conspicuous lark, though at times it visits the 

 stubbles. High- water mark provides it with food — insects, 

 small molluscs and crustaceans sheltering under the drifted 

 weed ; seeds, picked up on the beach or on the saltings or 

 coastwise fields, form a considerable part of its winter diet. On 

 the sand it runs quickly, carrying the body low, though the 

 legs are not so short as they appear. It does not sing in 

 Britain, but Seebohm describes the song as short but melodious ; 

 the . bird sings from the ground or when in the air like a 

 Skylark. The usual call of the wintering birds is not unlike 

 that of the Meadow-Pipit. 



The male in summer is a handsome bird, pinkish brown on 

 the back, pale yellow on the head and throat, and with a black 

 crown and streak towards the nape which terminates in 

 elongated feathers, forming a double crest ; a patch below the 

 eye and a band across the breast are black and the rest of the 

 under parts white with faint brown streaks on the flanks. The 

 bill and legs are black, and the irides dark brown. The female 

 has no tufts on the head and less black, and the streaks on the 

 back are more pronounced. In winter, when the bird is most 

 frequently seen here, the black on the head is largely obscured 



