ALAUDA. 223 



Sky-Lark's nest this morning with two young ones a week old. 

 The nest, which was in a hole in a piece of broken ground, was 

 cup-shaped, very deep, and neatly made of fine roots and straws ; 

 it had no lining. The old bird had just put an entire flying-ant, 

 of large size, wing and all, into the bill of one of the young ones. 

 Both the young were in a weak slate, perhaps in consequence of 

 the rainy weather, and the one in particular was making no effort 

 to swallow its large and coarse mouthful, the wings of which, a 

 full inch long, were sticking out of its bill. 



" Akola, IQth Aur/iist, 1876. — On the 2nd of this month I saw a 

 Sky-Lark picking straws off the road and arranging them at the 

 roots of a small babool bush, little more than a foot high. This 

 was in the country, about two miles from the station. This 

 morning I went to the place, and found the nest made and two 

 eggs in it. The eggs were quite cold, but it does not follow from 

 that that all the eggs had not been laid, as Sky-Larks do sometimes, 

 after beginning to sit, leave their nests for upwards of an hour at 

 a time. 



" The shape of the nest was peculiar. There was not room at 

 the root of the bush for a complete cup or circle to be formed ; so 

 the nest was placed half sideways, leaning up against the main 

 stem of the bush. In order to suit this position the nest had been 

 made nearly twice the usual size, and the part where the eggs lay, 

 though properly the side of the entire structure, was as deep and 

 evenly finished as the bottom of any other Sky-Lark's nest. The 

 Mhole thing was of the shape that would be made by taking two 

 thirds of one nest and half of another, the superfluous parts being 

 cut off clean with a pair of shears, joining the edges so that the 

 half part might stand upright upon the two-thirds part. I took 

 some care to bring away the nest entire, but it was so loosely 

 constructed, like all Sky-Larks' nests, that it fell to pieces as soon 

 as it was taken out of its bed. 



" The eggs are a little below the usual size, and are curiously 

 coloured. They entirely want the dusky ground-colour usual in 

 the eggs of this species. The ground-colour is pure white. The 

 markings on one of them are exactly like those of the typical 

 Sparro\A's egg. The other egg is absurdly elongated at the thin 

 end, and nearly all the spots are cro\^ded together there. The 

 shell of this egg is very thin. The peculiar smoothness, which is 

 the most remarkable point about the Common Sky-Lark's eggs, is as 

 observable on the white ground of these two eggs as on any of the 

 usual dark colour." 



Miss Cockburn says : — " In the Nilghiris the Indian Sky-Larks 

 breed up to the summits of the highest mountains, as well as on 

 their slopes and in the valleys. 



" They build twice in a year, sometimes beginning as early as 

 February, and continuing till May. Then again from August to 

 October, and even later as I have noted, having found a young 

 Lax'k on the 2nd November, 1858. 



" They choose the open country, with sometimes a small low 



