ALAUDID^. 



243 



THE CRESTED LARK. 

 Alauda cristata, Linnceus, 



Although the Crested Lark is a tolerably common bird on the 

 opposite side of the Channel, yet authenticated specimens have 

 seldom been obtained even in the south of England ; a Skylark 

 with a well-developed crest having often been fondly ascribed by 

 its owner to this very distinct species. Mr. Bond has a genuine 

 example obtained at Littlehampton, Sussex, previous to 1845, ^^^ 

 another was taken alive near Shoreham on October 20th 1H63, 

 while at intervals five have been killed in Cornwall — all of them in 

 autumn and winter, with the exception of one shot on June 12th 

 1880. Capt. Hadfield asserts that one was captured in the Isle of 

 Wight, and Mr. Harting has recorded (Zool. 1SS3, p. 178) without 

 seeing the specimen, the statement by a bird stuffer that one had 

 been taken from the nest near Cambridge. The species is not 

 known to have visited Scotland, and its supposed occurrence in 

 Ireland rests upon an anonymous paragraph in a newspaper. 



The Crested Lark flourishes best in warm countries, but it can 

 bear cold well, although snow interferes with its means of subsist- 

 ence ; and it is resident in small numbers as far as bo"^ N. lat. in 

 Sweden and Russia. In Denmark, Northern Germany, Holland 

 and Belgium, it becomes more frequent ; in the north of France 



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