198 Thr Short-Tord Lark 



April in the north of India, different flocks often nnite into vast troops, containing 

 man}' tliousand birds, and qnite darkening the air, so close do they keep together, 

 even when flj'ing. Great nnnibers are netted in some parts of the conntr}-, or 

 taken by bird-lime, or shot ; for when feeding, they keep close to each other. 

 On one occasion, on the cavalry parade groiind, at Kamptee, I bagged twelve 

 dozen birds after discharging both barrels, and many wonnded birds escaped. 

 They get quite fat about this time, and are really very excellent eating, and they 

 are alwa3'S called Ortolan by Europeans in India. They leave the north of India 

 about the end of April, or beginning of May, and the}' breed in the steppes of 

 Central Asia, Eastern Russia, and also in Northern Africa, placing their nest on 

 the ground at the edge of a scrub or bush, and laying four to six eggs, usually 

 marked with grey and rufous spots, but sometimes, it is said, unspotted yellow- 

 brown." 



It is probable that, as with all the Larks, insects form a large proportion of 

 this bird's food in summer and seed in winter. 



Herr Gatke says (" The Birds of Heligoland," pp. 359-360) : — " Formerly, 

 hardly a year passed without this pretty little Lark being observed here at the 

 end of May or June, even though only in ver}- solitar}' instances. 



In former years, when more favourable conditions of weather prevailed, the 

 bird was seen pretty frequently in autumn, sometimes even as late as November. 

 During the time I have been collecting, it has passed through my hands about 

 thirty times ; and besides that, it has been seen and heard, without being killed, 

 on an equal number of occasions. 



I kept one of these pretty little birds over a year in a cage ; it had been 

 momeutaril}- stunned by a very light shot which had grazed the back of its head, 

 but recovered ver\' soon, and became extraordinarilj'' tame. It underwent a 

 complete moult in the autumn, managed to get safely through the winter, and 

 sang heartily during the spring ; but died, much to my regret, at the beginning 

 of the summer. Its song was much more like that of a Bunting than a Sk}-- 

 Lark. I fed it on Canary-seed, which, like a Lapland Bunting in a cage hanging 

 by its side, it used to peel* before consuming ; a Shore-Lark on the other hand, 

 which I had had for over ten years in a cage, never did this." 



* This shaiild have Ijecu tran.slaled "Imsk" (uot iit-el).— A.G.B. 



