286 BRITISH BIRDS. 
except in being slightly smaller in size, and possibly somewhat richer in 
colour *, 
The Shore-Lark is as much a bird of the tundra as the Snow-Bunting 
and the Lapland Bunting ; but it breeds at a lower latitude than the former 
species, and though almost as abundant as the latter, is more local. It 
avoids the marshy districts and confines itself to dry sandy plams or rocky 
hills, though it comes down to the mud-shores of the rivers to drink. It 
is one of the earliest of the small birds to arrive at its breeding-grounds. 
The Snow-Bunting and the Mealy Redpole arrive first, and may be seen 
running about on the snow some weeks before the ice breaks up; but as 
soon as the thaw begins in earnest a batch of small birds arrive, amongst 
which is sure to be the Shore-Lark. In lat. 66°, in the valley of the 
Petchora, we saw the first on the 10th of May; but in lat. 663°, in the 
valley of the Yenesay, I did not see this bird until the 2nd of June. They 
afterwards passed through both stations in great numbers. 
The Shore-Larks seem to be entirely ground-birds. On the banks of 
the Petchora I have seen both the Common Gull and the Common Snipe 
perched in trees, and in the valley of the Yenesay I have shot a Golden 
Plover from the summit of a larch ; but I have never seen the Shore-Lark 
perch in a tree or even on a bush. It seems to be even more exclusively a 
ground-bird than the Sky-Lark. It runs along the sand with the greatest 
ease; but when watching a flock of Lapland Buntings and Shore-Larks 
feeding on an oasis of grass in the snow, I noted down that both species 
occasionally advanced a few steps by a series of hops, and that the Shore- 
Lark did so more than the Lapland Bunting. During migration the Shore- 
Lark is a gregarious bird, and though the first flocks consisted of Shore- 
* Dresser, in his‘ Birds of Europe,’ has so confused the synonymy of the Asiatic species 
and races of Shore-Larks that I have had some considerable difficulty in disentangling 
the skein; but with the assistance of Scully’s admirable paper on the Birds of Gilgit 
(Ibis, 1881, p. 581), I have unravelled the puzzle as follows :— 
THe West-AsIATIC SHORE-LARK. 
Alauda penicillata, Gould, Proc, Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 126. 
Phileremos scriba, Gould, fide Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer, p. 37 (1838). 
Alauda albigula, Brandt, fide Bonap. Consp. i. p. 246 (1850). 
Otocoris albigula (Brandt), Bonap. Consp. i. p. 246 (1850). 
Otocoris larvata, De Filippi, Arch. per la Zool. ii, fase. 2, p. 381 (1863). 
Tue Eastr-Asratic SHORE-LARK. 
Otocoris longirostris, Gould, fide Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855, p. 215. 
Otocorys sibirica, Eversmann, fide Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1871, p. 390. 
Otocorys elwesii, Blanf. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1872, p. 62. 
Otocorys brandti, Dresser, B. Eur. iv. p. 401 (1874). 
Otocorys parvexi, Taczan. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1876, p. 161. 
Otocoris nigrifrons, Prjevalsky, Mongolia and Thibet, ii. p. 103 (1876). 
Otocoris albigula, auctorum nec Brandt. 
