SHORE-LARK 



545 



a cliff, or in a hole in a rock or bank, and although generally built of 

 grass, may contain a larger or smaller admixture of seaweed. The 

 four or five eggs are usually dark-coloured, 

 owing to very heavy mottlings of dark or 

 reddish brown which more or less com- 

 pletely obscure the greyish or greenish 

 white ground. On the Continent the range 

 of this bird is stated to include the coasts 

 of the north and west of France. 



On the shores of the Baltic, as well as 

 of Denmark and Norway, the true rock- 

 pipit is represented by the closely allied 

 Scandinavian rock-pipit, distinguished by 

 the absence of the dark markings in the 

 breeding-plumage on the under surface of 

 the body, which is of a rich buff tint. This 

 bird is generally regarded as a distinct 

 species, under the name of AiitJuis riipcstris. 

 but might perhaps be better ranked as a 

 local race. The Yorkshire and Lincolnshire 

 pipits of this type seen in autumn are stated to belong almost entireh' 

 to the Scandinavian form. 



KUCK-PIl'IT. 



„, TV xAlthough evidentl)' allied on the one hand to the 



,_. , . . . pipits (and more especially to the titlark, which 



(Otoeopys alpestpis).^ i \ ., , /• , , , L, , 



has a similar long hind-clawj, and apparently less 



intimately related on the other hand to the buntings, the larks, or 

 Alaudidai, are broadly distinguished from all other Ikitish perching 

 birds by having the hind surface of the shank of the leg covered with 

 large transverse scales instead of b}- a continuous greavc-like plate. 

 \\\ addition to this feature, it will suffice to state that the members of 

 the family have ten primary wing-quills, of which, however, one is so 

 short as to be often overlooked. With the exception that the shore- 

 larks range into America, where they reach as far south as Bogota, 

 while one genus is found in Australasia, the larks are essentiall)- 

 inhabitants of the three great continents of the Old World and the 

 adjacent islands. 



They are likewise all ground -nesting birds, and most of them 

 frequent open commons, meadows, or arable ground, although a few 

 prefer deserts, and some haunt the skirts of woods. The nest is alwa\-s 

 made of grass or bents, and the eggs are thickh- mottled. \'ery 



2 X 



