Family ALAUDID.%, 
The Larks constitute a very large family of birds, and are perhaps 
less understood than any other group in the Whole range of orni- 
thology. Those species which frequent Britain are arranged in the 
genera Alauda, Galerita, Otocoris, Melanocorypha, and Calandrella, 
They are chiefly inhabitants of the Old World. Of the genus Alauda, 
under which term all that were known when Linnzus wrote were 
included, our well-known Sky-Lark is a typical example. In America 
these birds are but feebly represented. 
Genus ALAUDA, 
iarAnsepad ABVENSIS- ho 2) A OF~ 2°70 SPE ool TE BP RY: 
Sxy-Lark. 
A strictly resident species in Britain, the numbers of which are 
greatly increased by arrivals from Scandinavia in autumn, the whole 
forming immense flocks in the winter season. This species is also 
widely dispersed over Central and Southern Europe; and its range 
may even extend further in those directions. In the preceding 
portion of this introduction I have mentioned the great destruction 
of small birds which occasionally takes place from the severity of 
the weather, in further confirmation of which I may here give a 
passage from a note received by me from John St. Aubyn, Esq., of 
Pendeen, in Cornwall, dated January 15, 1867 :—‘* Owing to the 
severity of the cold, Larks and other small birds are beginning to die 
rapidly of starvation, judging from the number my children pick up.” 
HS VATAUDA ARBORKA . .  . . « «> ee UVOR EIR PIX VI. 
Woop-Larx. 
A cheery little songster, very local in its habitat, breeds in many 
of the English counties ; supposed to migrate from us to the south- 
ward in the winter; but Mr. Blake Knox states that it is abundant 
at that season in the county of Dublin, and also that it breeds there. 
It is about as numerous in Scotland as it isin England; and Mr. 
Harting states it has been found as far north as the Orkney Islands. 
Genus GALERira, 
iG Gamera ‘enispipa-| VOTE. PX VER 
Crestep Lark. 
A bird of France and many other parts of the European continent, 
and even of other more distant countries. Although common on 
the roads between Calais and Boulogne, it seldom crosses the Channel 
to pay Albion’s shores a visit; here, indeed, it is so scarce that it 
must be enumerated among our accidental visitors. 
