tinental 

 Europe. 



134 



Alauda arvensis L. Newton, ed. Yarrell, I, p. 614; Dresser, Birds of 

 Europe, IV, p. 307; id. Man. Pal. Birds, p. 387; Saunders, Man., p. 249. 

 A. Lwvemis arvensis L. Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 244. 



Breeding Range: Europe generally, except in the extreme north 

 and south; replaced in the south east by A. arvensis caiitarella Bp. 

 British Common and generally distributed throughout Great Britain and Ire- 



^^^^^ land, but less numerous in the N. of Scotland and scarce in some of 

 the wilder districts, such as the N. W. coast. It is however found in almost 

 all the islands, including the Shetlands, Orkneys, Hebrides, etc. being only 

 absent from a few outlying rocky islets and holms. It is a lover of the 

 open country and avoids woodlands, narrow valleys and the high mountains, 

 but may be met with up to 2000 ft. in England. It is unknown in Ice- 

 land, but a few pairs are known to have bred in the Fasroes. Scottish 

 birds have been separated under the name of A. arvensis scotica by Tschusi 

 on account of their darker colouring. 



Con- In Scandinavia it breeds commonly in south and middle Sweden, and 



is also found in Norway almost up to the N. Cape, but is not numerous 

 beyond the Arctic circle, and does not penetrate beyond Lat. 68 V N. in 

 Lapland. It is the only bird which regularly nests on Helgoland, and is 

 generally distributed over the whole of the great European plain, and is 

 especially numerous in the plains of Jutland. (In the Iberian peninsula it 

 is only a winter visitor, but a small dark race appears to breed on the 

 Portuguese serras, in the mountains of Castile, and according to Saunders, 

 also in Aragon, which requires further investigation.) Over the northern 

 parts of its range it is a summer migrant, but towards the south it is to 

 a great extent sedentary. 



Nest. Always placed on the ground, often in growing crops in cultivated 



districts, among grass by road sides, among rough pasture or on moorlands, 

 and near the coast, even out on the open beach among the shingle and 

 sand, and among the dunes. It is placed in a hoofprint or any natural 

 depression, and is composed of dead grasses and bents, lined with finer 

 grasses, and sometimes, but not always, with horsehair. The old birds 

 are said to have been known to remove their young from the nest in 

 their claws. As the hen is a close sitter, the nest is frequently only found 

 by accident. 

 Eggs. In the British Isles the clutch usually consists of 3 or 4 eggs, but 



in some districts 5 are not uncommon. Rey gives 5 as the normal number 

 in Germany, and adds that 6 have been occasionally found; a statement 

 which also occurs in the works of Fatio and Westerlund. In Denmark 

 the first brood is said usually to consist of 4 and the second of 5. Eight 

 eggs, belonging to two clutches, have been found in one nest in Kent. 

 They are very variable in size and shape, and also differ considerably in 



