256 BRITISH BIRDS. 
ALAUDA ARBOREA. 
WOOD-LARK. 
(Piate 15.) 
Alauda arborea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 287 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum— 
Gmelin, Latham, Scopoli, Temminck, Degland § Gerbe, Salvadori, Dresser, New- 
ton, &¢. 
Alauda nemorosa, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 797 (1788). 
Alauda cristatella, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 499 (1790). 
Lullula arborea (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 92 (1829). 
Galerida nemorosa (Gimel.), Brehm, Vég. Deutschl. p. 316 (1851). 
Galerida arborea (Linn.), Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 817 (1831). 
Few British birds are more widely but locally distributed in our islands 
than the Wood-Lark. It seems to be nowhere very common, but is 
found in well-planted districts where the soil is sandy or at least dry. 
It avoids wet or clay land, but probably breeds in suitable districts through- 
out the southern half of England and Wales. In the north of England it 
is more local and less abundant than in the south, but has been known to 
breed in most counties. In Scotland it is a rare bird, and is only known 
to have bred in one locality—at Torwood in Stirlingshire, where its nest 
was taken by my friend Harvie-Brown. It has, however, occurred more 
or less frequently in many other parts of the country, as far north as 
Caithness ; and a specimen was killed in Mr. Dunn’s garden at Stromness 
in Orkney. Thompson says that it is very local in Ireland, appearing 
principally to be found in those counties bordering the eastern and 
southern coasts, from Antrim in the north to Cork in the south-west. 
The Wood-Lark is locally distributed throughout Central and Southern 
Europe. In Scandinavia and West Russia it only occurs accidentally 
north of lat. 60°, and in East Russia it does not apparently range further 
north or east than the valley of the Volga. In the north of France, 
Holland, Belgium, Germany, and in the rest of its range to the north and 
the east it is a summer visitor only. In the south of France, Spain, 
Portugal, North-west Africa, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Asia Minor, the 
Caucasus, and North-west Persia it is principally known as a winter 
visitor, but a few remain to breed in the mountains. It occasionally 
straggles into North Egypt m winter. The Wood-Lark has no near ally, 
and is subject to scarcely any local variation in colour. 
In this country the Wood-Lark appears to be an irregular or partial 
migrant, often leaving its summer haunts at the approach of winter to 
retire to districts where it is unknown in the breeding-season. Neverthe- 
