SHORE-LARK. 285 
whilst in the valley of the Yenesay, I observed it in lat. 663° passing in 
great numbers on migration, but only found it breeding above lat. 693° *. 
Eastwards it probably breeds above the limits of forest-growth to Behring’s 
Straits. In the valley of the Lena, Middendorff observed flocks on the 
Arctic circle migrating northwards to breed. In the Palearctic Region 
there is-no evidence of this bird ever having bred below the Arctic 
circle. 
In winter the Shore-Lark is an accidental visitor to the south of Norway, 
Germany, Denmark, Belgium, France, and Italy, but appears to have 
never been observed on the Spanish peninsula. It is also a rare winter 
visitor to Hungary, Turkey, and South Russia; and eastwards is found at 
that season in South-west Turkestan, South Siberia, and North China ; 
although it does not appear to have ever occurred in Japan. On the 
American continent, the breeding-range of the Shore-Lark is probably 
confined to the tundras above the limit of forest-growth, which on this 
continent extends somewhat further to the south than in the. Old 
World. 
The Shore-Lark has several very near allies. The most distinct of these, 
A, penicillata, is a resident in Asia Minor and Palestine, the steppes of 
South-east Russia, South-west Siberia, and Turkestan, extending east- 
wards as far as the Altai Mountains. This species may at once be 
distinguished from every other Shore-Lark by its having the black on the 
ear-coverts joined to the black on the throat, thus isolating the white on 
the throat. Itis doubtful if any of the other Shore-Larks are specifically 
distinct from our bird; but throughout the Himalayas, in Turkestan, the 
Altai Mountains, Dauria, and Mongolia, occasionally wandering in winter 
into North China, a pale form occurs, A. longirostris, which also differs in 
having the forehead, eye-stripe, and throat white, instead of yellow. A 
still more isabelline and slightly smaller form, 4. dilopha, inhabits the 
deserts of Northern Africa and Arabia. In America a southern form 
occurs, A. occidentalis, breeding on the plains of the upper valley of the 
Mississippi and the valley of the Missouri, which is scarcely distinguishable 
from A. longirostris ; but it is said that intermediate forms between this 
and A. alpestris are not uncommon. In Mexico and the adjoining United 
States, extending southwards into the extreme north-west of South 
America, A. chrysolema is said to be a resident. It is a very remarkable 
fact that this tropical form is scarcely distinguishable from A. alpestris, 
* There can be little doubt that the Shore-Lark mentioned by Eversmann as extending 
only to 53° north latitude, and alluded to by Sabanieff as breeding in the Perm Govern- 
ment (a statement which is quoted by Dresser and apparently endorsed by Newton), is 
the West-Asiatic Shore-Lark, 4. penzeillata. The Shore-Larks mentioned by Radde as 
breeding above the limit of forest-growth in the Thian-Shan Mountains are unques- 
tionably A. dongerostris. 
