XXXVI 

 A BIRD OF THE OPEN PLAIN 



IT is the fashion for modern writers of books 

 on ornithology to divide birds according to the 

 locaHties they frequent, into birds of the 

 garden, birds of the wood, birds of the meadow, 

 birds of the waterside, etc. The chief drawback to 

 such a system of classification, which is intended to 

 simplify identification, is that most birds decline to 

 limit themselves to any particular locality. 



There are, however, some species which are so 

 constant in their habits as to render it possible to lay 

 down the law regarding them and to assert with con- 

 fidence where they will be found. Of such are the 

 finch-larks. I have never seen a finch-lark anywhere 

 but on an open uncultivated plain or in fields that 

 happen to be devoid of crops. 



Any person living in India may be tolerably certain 

 of making the acquaintance of the ashy-crowned finch- 

 lark {Pyrrhulauda grisea) by repairing to the nearest 

 open space outside municipal limits. 



The finch-lark is a dumpy, short-tailed bird, con- 

 siderably smaller than a sparrow. Having no bright 

 colours in its plumage, it is not much to look at, but 



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