102 Synopsis of the Birds 



Female and young hardly different from the adult male. 

 Moult annually. Feathers of the head more or less erectile. 



Live in flocks ; build and dwell almost exclusively on the 

 ground ; eggs, 4 — 6. Feed on seeds, herbs, rarely ou insects : 

 fond of dusting themselves. Fly well : run rapidly : tail 

 motionless. Suspend themselves aloft in the air, singing 

 sweetly. Flesh excellent. 



Widely spread over the globe. 



158. Alauda alpestris,L. Reddish-drab ; beneath whitish; 

 a broad patch on the breast and under each eye, and lateral 

 tail feathers, black ; two outer exteriorly white. 



Shore Lark, Alauda alpestris, Wils. Am. Orn. i. p. 85. pi- 5. 



fig- 4- 



Inhabits the north of both continents ; much more com- 

 mon and migrating farther south in America : only a winter 

 visitant in the southern and middle states. 



32. EMBERIZA. 



Ember iza, L. Briss. Gm. Lath. 111. Cuv. Temm. Hanz. 



Emberiza, Passerina, Vieill. 



Bill short, robust, conic, somewhat compressed, entire ; mar- 

 gins narrowed in, and near the base, a little angular ; upper 

 mandible rounded above, acute, smaller and narrower than 

 the lower ; palate with a longitudinal bony tubercle ; lower 

 mandible rounded beneath, very acute : nostrils basal, small, 

 rounded, open, partly covered by the frontal feathers : tongue 

 thick, divided at tip. Tarsus about equal to the middle toe ; 

 lateral toes equal ; outer united at base to the middle one ; hind 

 toe hardly thicker than the fore toes and as long as the late- 

 ral. Wings moderate ; first primary almost equal to the 

 second and third, which are longest. Tail even or emar- 

 ginate. 



Female differ from the male. Young resemble the female, 

 but darker and more deeply spotted. European and North 

 American species moult annually. 



