LARKS 



21 I 



no fruit or other product of husbandry. It must 

 be admitted that the bird destroys more useful 

 insects than could be wished, but the injury it 

 docs in this way is comparatively slight. To his 



credit must be placed cottnn-boll weevils, striped 

 sc|uash beetles, cucumber beetles, imbricated 

 clover weevils, plum curculios, moths, and cater- 

 pillars. 



LARKS 



Order Passeres ; suborder O seine s ; family Alandida 



HE Larks are almost exclusively birds of the Old World. They are found 

 in the northern ]xirt of Europe and Asia, in Africa, and in India; there is one 

 species in Australia and another in North America. One species, the European 

 Skylark, is a straggler to Greenland and the Bermudas; it has also been 

 introduced into the United States. The Larks belong to the larger group 

 of song birds and many of its members are excellent songsters; the European 

 Slc\iark is especially renowned in this respect and has been the theme of many 

 a writer both of poetry and of prose. 



. Among the structural characteristics of this family are: bill, variable in 

 shape, but usually small, conoid, usually moderateh^ thick or rather slender, 

 sometimes ver\' deep and compressed, in some species slender and much 

 elongated; the nostril usually narrow, oblique, sometimes longitudinal, usually at least 

 partly concealed by the feathers of the lores; the bristles at the corner of the mouth indistinct 

 or obsolete; wing rather long, pointed, the longest primaries much longer than the secondaries; 

 tail containing twelve feathers and variable in relative length but always shorter than wing, 

 nearly even, double rounded, or notched; tarsus rather stout, variable as to relative length 

 and covered with scales; middle toe shorter than tarsus but decidedly longer than the side 

 toes which are nearly equal; claws of the forward toes slightly curved, usually short; that 

 of the hind toe much longer, sometimes much elongated and nearly straight, occasionally 

 much longer than the toe; the head usually crested (double crested or " eared " in the 

 Horned Larks). 



The Larks are usually streaked brownish above, whitish streaked with brown below, 

 sometimes nearly plain brown, occasionally black or dusky. One species, the Horned Larks, 

 has conspicuous frontal and cheek patches and jugular collar or crescent of black. 



The members of this family are terrestrial in their habits. Their nests are built on 

 the ground in open places and they feed on both grain and insects. 



SKYLARK 

 Alauda arvensis Liniurus 



A. O. U. Number 473 See Color Plate 69 



Other Name. — European Skylark. 



General Description. — LcnRth, 7'j inches. Upper 

 parts, brown streaked with blackish ; under parts, 

 buffy-white tinged and streaked with darker. 



Color. — Above, wood-brown everywhere (except on 

 wings and tail) streaked with blackish, the streaks 

 broadest on crown, back, and rump, where margined 

 with deeper brown, some of the back feathers with 

 inner webs paler than the general color; lesser wing- 



VoL. II — 15 



coverts nearly uniform wood-brown ; middle coverts, 

 dusky centrally, otherwise brown passing on margins 

 into pale buffy-brown or dull brownish-white; greater 

 coverts with concealed portion dusky, passing toward 

 edges through brown to pale brownish-buff, the second- 

 aries similarly colored but the three innermost with 

 greater part of exposed portion dusky grayish-brown ; 

 primaries dusky edged with pale bufFy-brown, the 

 outermost with outer web almost entirely pale buflfy; 



