THE BHARAT AND ITS KINDRED 137 



white sand during the heat of the day. 

 About the European Sky-Lark, Finn says, 

 *'It bears extremes of heat and cold, 

 drought and damp". This is true of the 

 resident Larks of India as well, because 

 the whole of Northern India (except the 

 Lower Gangetic Plain) and many places 

 on the Deccan Table-land have extreme 

 climates. It is a great pity that these 

 songsters fall victims to the epicurean wants 

 of mankind. In Calcutta and other large 

 towns, numbers of these birds are killed 

 and sold as 'Ortolans'. This sort of whole- 

 sale slaughter is to be deprecated for 

 reasons more than one. 



European writers are of opinion that 

 the Indian Sky-Lark {Almida gulgula ) is 

 scarcely distinguishable from the 

 The Sky- English bird {A. arvensis) in 

 Bharat colour and is not distinguish- 



able in habit or song. Legge, 

 however, is of opinion that *4t sings quite 

 as sweetly as the European Lark but not 

 so loudly, and its song is not so long-sus- 



