Thk Short-Toro Lark 197 



the same situations as the Cahuidra ; they prefer falhnv i^round, nesting under 

 shelter of some clod or in au}' sliglit depression of the ground. I never could 

 find the nest, except by putting the old l)ird off." 



Howard Saunders says: — "During the breeding-season the liird frequents 

 dry and sandy soil, and plains where the herbage is somewhat scanty ; while its 

 tameuess is such as often to cause difficult}' in shooting a specimen for identification 

 withoiit blowing it to pieces, and I have seen a bird cut down with a whip in 

 the road. The male utters his short and feeble song while perched on some clod 

 or low wall, or during a brief, undulating, and somewhat jerk}' flight. In autumn 

 and winter large flocks are formed." 



The season of nidification, as Seebohm has pointed out, of the Short-toed 

 Lark varies, commencing at dates decided by the conditions of climate in the 

 countries where it spends its summer ; in the warmer regions it begins as early 

 as April, whilst in colder countries nesting operations may be delayed until June. 



The nest, like that of all its allies, is in a slight depression on the ground, 

 sometimes barely sheltered by irregularities of the soil, but frequently as with 

 other Larks, placed amongst grass or partly sheltered by a bush. It is of the 

 ordinary type, and consists of grass-bents, rootlets, down, and sometimes feathers 

 with a few hairs as a finish to the lining. 



The eggs as well as the nest are very similar to those of our Sky-Lark, 

 excepting in their inferior size, and (as is the case with that bird) a nest will 

 sometimes only contain a clutch of three ; but I have always considered it probable, 

 when the normal number of eggs is from four to five, as with the Short- toed and 

 Sky-Larks, that the bird has been disturbed in its first nest and has had to build 

 again in a hurry. In colouring the eggs are creamy-whitish freely sprinkled 

 with pale smoky-brown spots and with greyer shell-spots ; these markings are 

 more or less dense in different specimens, sometimes almost concealing the ground- 

 tint and often with a zone of heavier marking near the larger end ; but these 

 variations are common to all the Larks and might almost be taken for granted. 



Jerdon (cf Cat. Birds, E. I. Comp., vol. II, p. 473) observes: — "This bird 

 appears on the table-land of Southern India in October. It associates in vast 

 flocks, frequenting the bare grass-downs, and is fond of damp spots, as at the 

 edge of tanks, etc. ; it also frequents grain-fields, and almost always retires to 

 them for shelter during the heat of the day ; from whence it does not in general 

 issue again till next morning." 



In his "Birds of India," vol. II, p. 427, he adds the following facts: — "It 

 feeds almost entirely on seeds ; both runs and hops on the ground, and has a 

 call-note like that of the real Lark's. Towards the end of March in the south. 



Vol. II. E3 



