26o THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



is at the period when the " rush " of winter immigrants 

 takes place in October and November. The Teesmouth, 

 however, is equally favoured by its visits, as my observations 

 made during the past few years tend to prove, and it may be 

 met with every winter in certain localities which provide it 

 with suitable feeding grounds. In 1900 a party of twelve 

 appeared on the 12th of October, and others continued to 

 arrive until the 22nd of December, while a flock of fully two 

 hundred individuals frequented a piece of reclaimed land 

 from November until February of the following year. 



The earliest date for the Shore Lark's arrival, of which I 

 am aware, is i8th September 1895, when two were killed in 

 my presence on the rocks at the east end of Redcar. It 

 has been known to prolong its stay until the 20th of March, 

 a flock numbering about twenty individuals being noted at 

 Spurn on that date in 1880. 



There are, however, few species that are more overlooked 

 by the sportsman and pseudo-naturalist than this under 

 notice, and our earliest apprisals of its visits are chiefly due 

 to speculative shots at small birds on the coast, which 

 occasionally result in the Shore Lark falling to the gun, and 

 being duly chronicled. My first acquaintance with it was on 

 2ist November 1877, when I procured one from a flock of, 

 what I imagined to be, Skylarks crossing from seaward and 

 flying overhead. At the Teesmouth it usually haunts the 

 foot of the sandhills near high-water mark, where it feeds 

 among the debris cast up by the tide, or on the short herbage 

 at the edges of the tidal pools. In habits it is a very un- 

 obtrusive species and runs about silently, feeding with the 

 assiduity of a Starling, but, on being approached, rises, uttering 

 a peculiar " weet-you " call of alarm. Its appearance on 

 the ground is rather deceptive, as the yellow and black 

 markings of the head and throat are not conspicuous, and 

 the bird appears to be of a warm brown hue on the back, 

 and light coloured underneath, thus resembling the plumage 

 of the majority of the Larks and Pipits. Its flight may best 

 be described as intermediate between that of a Rock Pipit 

 and a Skylark. 



