280 BRITISH BIRDS. 
west as Stavrapol in North Caucasia; whilst Hencke describes it as very 
common on the Kirgiz steppes north of Astrakan. In severe winters it 
occasionally strays into South-west Russia, and even as far as Constan- 
tinople. Finsch met with it in the Barabinska steppes and eastwards up 
to the Altai Mountains, beyond which it has not been found. In Western 
Siberia it has occurred as far north asOmsk. In Siberia it is a migratory 
bird, wintering in Turkestan. 
When Pallas first discovered this fine Lark on the banks of the Irtish 
he thought it was merely a variety of the Calandra Lark, and described it 
as such; but Gmelin, recognizing its specific distinctness, named it Alauda 
sibirica. Pallas afterwards renamed it A. /eucoptera when he wrote his book 
on the zoology of Asiatic Russia, and gave some particulars of its habits 
and its distribution. Since the days of Pallas but little has been added to 
the natural history of the White-winged Lark. He states that, like the 
Calandra Lark, it frequents the roadsides and that its song is shorter than 
that of the Sky-Lark and is uttered as the bird is hanging in the air, but 
that it does not often rise so high as that bird. Sabanieff states that it 
frequents the grassy and open districts. It appears not to be very shy, 
and often allows the observer to approach it quite closely. In the early 
part of the breeding-season it is incessantly soaring into the air for a short 
distance on fluttering wings, very gracefully warbling its short song, then 
returning to the ground. 
Professor Slovzow says that the White-winged Lark first arrived at Omsk 
on the 16th of May ; but Finsch, on his journey south from that town to 
Semipalatinsk, met with it in the last week of April. He also saw it in 
large flocks on the Barabinska steppes. The birds were very tame, and 
looked most picturesque as they wheeled and curved in graceful flight. 
He describes the song as very like that of the Sky-Lark. 
The breeding-season of the White-winged Lark is said sometimes to 
commence as early as the end of April, but sometimes not until the middle 
of May, according to the state of the season. The nest is built m a little 
cavity on the ground under a tuft of herbage or beneath a little bush, and 
is said to be made of grass. The eggs are four or five in number, and 
apparently do not differ much. Specimens in my collection from the 
Volga are yellowish white in ground-colour, spotted with a light and dark 
shade of almost neutral brown and with numerous underlying markings of 
violet-grey. The spots are large and almost evenly distributed over the 
entire surface; but some specimens have most of the markings round 
the large end, many of them being confluent. They vary in length 
from *96 to ‘86 inch, and in breadth from ‘69 to ‘6l inch. The eggs of 
the White-winged Lark, although they resemble those of the Sky-Lark 
very closely in size and colour, are, however, easily distinguished ; they 
