234 SYNOPSIS AND ALPHABETICAL INDEX 
three broods yearly. Eggs: Ground colour, bluish- 
white to pale reddish-brown. Variously marked with 
brown and purple to grey. Four or five. 
6: SR VEARIC 
(Page 58-62) 
Alauda arvensis. Alauda, a Celtic word meaning 
literally a great (al, high, great) songstress. Avvensis : 
Lat., arvum, a cultivated field. Lark, Anglo-Saxon 
lawerc, Danish loerke, German lerche. General des- 
cription, size and plumage: A sandy and darker brown 
coloured bird bigger than a sparrow ; length, 7} inches. 
Under parts, yellowish-brown, elongated dark brown 
spots on throat and neck, white streak overeye. Varie- 
ties occur. Male and female: Alike in colour, female 
slightly the smaller. Found: Widely distributed. 
Haunts: Open places, pastures and cultivated fields, etc. 
Habits: Assemble in flocks from September through 
the winter. Keep to the ground, on which they run 
nimbly in search of food (rarely perch). Like dust- 
baths. Flight: Undulating (louping). Notes: Song 
continuous and varied, often sustained for half an hour, 
cannot be spelt. Uttered on the wing when mount- 
ing higher and higher (soaring) to a great height in a 
circular manner, descending gradually in the same way, 
alighting suddenly when a few feet from the ground, 
