ALAUDID.E — THE LARKS. 145 



Dall only obtained a single skin on the Yukon, it probably is not common 

 there. Dr. Suckley states it to be a very abundant summer resident on the 

 gravelly prairies near Fort Steilacoom, in AVashington Territory. He describes 

 it as a tame, unsuspicious bird, allowing a man to approach within a few feet 

 of it. It is essentially a ground bird, rarely alighting on bushes or shrubs. 



Dr. Cooper adds to this that the Shore Lark is common in the interior, but 

 he only noticed one on the coast border. In ordinary seasons they seem to 

 be permanent residents, and in winter to be both more gregarious and more 

 common. He met with one as late as July 1, on a gravelly plain near 

 Olympia, scratching out a hollow for its nest under a tussock of grass. 



Dr. Cooper also found these birds around Fort ]\Iohave in considerable 

 flocks about the end of February, but all had left the valley by the end of 

 March. About INIay 29 he found numbers of them towards the summits of 

 the Providence range of mountains, west of the valley, and not far from four 

 thousand feet above it, where they probably had nests. They were also 

 common in July on the cooler plains towards the ocean, so that they doubt- 

 less breed in many of the southern portions of California, as well as at 

 Puget Sound and on the Great Plains. Dr. Cooper states that in May or 

 June the males rise almost perpendicularly into the air, until almost out of 

 sight, and fly around in an irregular circle, singing a sweet and varied song 

 for several minutes, when they descend nearly to tlie spot from which they 

 started. Their nests were usually found in a small depression of the ground, 

 often under a tuft of grass or a bush. Mr. Nuttall started a Shore Lark from 

 her nest, on the plains, near the banks of the Platte. It was in a small de- 

 pression on the ground, and was made of bent grass, and lined with coarse 

 bison-hair. The eggs were olive-white, minutely sjiotted all over with a 

 darker tinge. 



According to Audubon, these Larks breed abundantly on the high and 

 desolate granite tracts that abound along the coast of Labrador. These 

 rocks are covered with large patches of mosses and lichens. In the midst 

 of these this bird places her nest, disposed with so much care, and the moss 

 so much resembling the bird in hue, that the nests are not readily noticed. 

 When flushed from her nest, she flutters away, feigning lameness so cunningly 

 as to deceive almost any one not on his guard. Tlie male at once joins 

 her, and both utter the most soft and plaintive notes of woe. The nest is 

 embedded in the moss to its edges, and is composed of fine grasses, circularly 

 disposed and forming a bed about two inches thick. It is lined with the 

 feathers of the grouse and of other birds. The eggs, deposited early in July, 

 are four or five in number, and are described by Mr. Audubon as marked 

 with bluish as well as brown spots. 



About a week before they can fly, the young leave the nest, and follow 

 their parents over these beds of mosses to be fed. They run nimbly, and 

 squat closely at the first approach of danger. If observed and pursued, they 

 open their wings and flutter off with great celerity. 



VOL. II. 19 



