THE BLACK LARK. 



149 



Breedeng-habits. — Nests on ground in depression on grassy 

 steppes. Nest. — ^Like that of other Larks, built of dead grasses, etc., 

 under shelter of clump of grass or plant. Eggs. — ^Usually 4, some- 

 times 3 or 5 ; ground creamy or greyish- white, thickly and uniformly 

 spotted with olive-brown and ashy, but sometimes with a zone. 

 Shell noticeably glossy. Average of 100 eggs, 22.6 X 16.38 mm. 

 Breeding -season. — From end April to end May. Incubation. — Period 

 not exactly known. 



Food. — Mainly seeds, but data lacking. 



Distribution. — England. — Eleven. Female, near Brighton 

 (Sussex) Nov. 22, 1869 (Saimders, p. 257). Woodchurch (Kent) 

 male Jan. 27, female Jan. 28, and male Mar. 22, 1902 (N. F. Tice- 

 hurst, Bull. B.O.C., xn, p. 50 ; xni, p. 15). Pevensey Sluice 

 (Sussex) male Dec. 30, 1907, and female Jan. 1, 1908 (R. Butterfield, 

 op. c, XXI, p. 51 ; cf. Brit. B., i, pp. 256, 357). One seen near Rye 

 (Sussex) Nov. 3, 1915 (M. L. Kleinwort, oj). c, ix, p. 209). Win- 

 chelsea (Sussex) male Mar. 30, male and female 31st and male 

 Apr. 2, 1916 (J. B. Nichols, op. c, xn, p. 159). 

 Distribution. — Abroad. — South Russian Steppes, Transcaspia, 

 west (Russian) Turkestan to Siberia. On autumn- migration 

 frequently in south-east Europe and also far west : Belgium, Italy, 

 Heligoland, etc. 



MELANOCORYPHA YELTONIENSIS 



59. Melanocorypha yeltoniensis (Forst.) — THE BLACK LARK. 



Alauda yeltoniensis Forster, Philos. Trans, lvii, p. 350 (1768— S. 

 Russia, Lower Volga, near Lake Yelton). 

 Alauda tatarica Pall., Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B., 11, p. 282. 

 Melanocorypha yeltoniensis (Forst.), C. B. Ticehiirst, Bull. B.O.C., xix, 

 p. 57 ; Saunders, Brit. B., i, p. 14. 



Black Lark (Melanocorypha yeltoniensis) c? spring. 



Description. — Adult male. Winter. — Whole plumage black almost 

 obscured on upper-parts and flanks by long bufiish- white or buff 

 fringes to feathers ; similar but much narrower fringes on throat 

 and breast, rest of under-parts with scarcely any pale fringes ; 



