ALAUDID.I-:. 



259 



THE SHORE-LARK. 



Otocorys alpestris (Linnaeus). 



The Shore-Lark was first noticed as a visitor to England in 

 March 1830, when one was obtained on the coast of Norfolk. 

 Subsequently the species occurred, at irregular and sometimes 

 long intervals on the eastern and southern shores of England 

 (seldom on the western side) until the winter of 1869-70, when a 

 considerable visitation took place, chiefly along the east coast. 

 From that time onward, especially in 1879-80 and 1882-83, i^-^ 

 numbers have considerably increased, and autumnal arrivals on the 

 coast of Yorkshire are almost annual, while some birds remain 

 throughout the winter, and examples have been obtained on the 

 northward migration in spring as late as April 22nd. In Scotland, 

 where the first specimen was shot in East Lothian by the late 

 Mr. W. W. Evans on January loth 1859, this species has occurred 

 as far north as St. Andrews, but not on the west coast ; while from 

 Ireland it is as yet unauthenticated. 



The present species, a member of a well-defined and widely- 

 distributed genus, has undoubtedly spread westward from America 

 in recent times, and is still extending its range in that direction. In 

 the Old World it now passes the summer in the northern regions 

 (or those elevated above the limits of forest-growth) of Scandinavia, 

 Finland and Russia, Kolguev, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef Land, and 

 Siberia to the Sea of Okhotsk. On migration it occurs irregularly 

 throughout the greater part of Europe, and occasionally down to the 



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