264 BRITISH BIRDS. 
frequents the roads, the open fields, the dried-up beds of watercourses, the 
broad sand-plains, and the mountain heights ; and in the latter situation I 
took its nest 5000 feet above the level of the sea, hidden amongst the 
pieces of rock and scanty vegetation of the mountain-sides. In some 
localities this bird was almost the only sign of life, as it alternately flew 
and settled before us as we went along. Upon the ground it runs very 
quickly, and its crest is more often kept close down to the head than held 
erect; nevertheless it can always be seen. Although the Crested Lark does 
not, so far as I know, associate with Desert-Larks, it frequents the same 
places, and in the half dried-up Oued Biskra both species were very 
common. I often saw this bird soar into the air for perhaps a hundred 
yards or so, all the time warbling its simple song; and I have watched it 
for some time in the act of singing when perched on an oleander bush. 
It is rather a skulking bird, and if shot at much soon becomes very wild 
and shy. I seldom noticed it near houses; it seemed quite independent 
of man, and apparently able to get a sustenance in localities that seemed 
incapable of supporting any bird-life at all.” 
The breeding-season of the Crested Lark commences early in April, 
sometimes later. In many cases the bird will build its nest quite close to 
houses, on ploughed land, in corn-fields, and in gardens; and Naumann 
says that it is sometimes placed on an old earth-wall or amongst the thatch 
of a low shed in the fields. In less cultivated districts the bird’s choice is 
often made amongst the scanty herbage on the mountain-sides or beneath 
the shelter of a little stunted bush; whilst on the bare and sterile desert 
it places its nest amongst the stones and scanty vegetation struggling for 
existence against the fierce sun and the arid waterless soil. The nest is 
almost always built upon the ground, either in a little hole scratched out 
by the parent bird or in the footprint of some animal: it is somewhat 
loosely made of dry grass, twitch, rootlets, and a few straws, and is often 
lined with a few hairs; but the latter material is not always used, for 
sometimes it cannot be obtained. The male is said to keep company with 
his mate and to assist her in collecting materials when the nest is being 
built, but he does not take any share in its construction. The eggs of the 
Crested Lark are four or five in number, and differ considerably in the 
colour and character of the markings. The ground-colour varies from the 
palest of creamy white to very pale greenish white, spotted, mottled, and 
blotched with almost neutral brown, and with numerous underlying mark- 
ings of violet-grey. Some eggs resemble very closely those of the Calandra 
Lark, the brown spots being well defined, and the grey markings large and 
conspicuous. The spots on this type are evenly distributed over the entire 
surface, but do not hide more than half of the ground-colour. Another 
type is very finely dusted and speckled with hair-brown, most numerously 
at the large end of the egg, where many of the markings are confluent, 
