68 BIRDS OF GUERNSFA'. 



amongst those rocks, considering how Httle soil 

 there generally is for them and what wild storms 

 they are subject to, that it is by no means easy to 

 find it, though one may almost see the bird leave 

 the nest. 



The Rock Pipit is included in Professor Ansted's 

 list, but marked as only occurring in Guernsey. 

 All the Eock Pipits I have seen in the Channel 

 Islands have been the common form, Anthus 

 ohscurus ; I have never seen one of the rufous- 

 breasted examples which occur in Scandinavia and 

 the Baltic, and have by some been separated 

 as a distinct species under the name of Anthus 

 riipestris. 



58. Sky Lark. Alauda arvensis, LiimxTis. French, 

 " Alouette des champs." — Mr. Metivier, in his 

 * Dictionary,' gives Houedre as the local Guernsey- 

 French name of the Sky Lark. As may be supposed 

 by its having a local name, it is a common and 

 well-known bird, and is resident in all the Islands. 

 I have not been able to find that its numbers are 

 much increased by migrants at any time of year, 

 though probably in severe weather in the winter 

 the Sky Larks fiock a good deal, as they do in 

 England. The Sky Lark breeds in all the Islands, 

 and occasionally places its nest in such exposed 

 situations that it is wonderful how the young 

 escape. One nest we found by a roadside near 



