BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 499 



WOODLARK. 



(Alatida arboreal) 

 Order PASSERES ; Family ALAUDID^: (LARKS). 



Description of Parent Birds. 

 Length about six inches. 

 Bill of medium length, straight, 

 and dusky-brown, lighter at 

 the base of the under man- 

 dible. Irides hazel. Crown 

 light brown, streaked with a 

 darker shade of the same 

 YOUNG WOODLARK. colour feathers form an 

 erectile crest. Over the eye and ear-coverts is a 

 streak of pale yellowish-brown. The upper parts of 

 the body are of a light reddish-brown, streaked 

 and patched with dusky on the neck and back. 

 Wing-quills dusky, bordered with brown. Tail- 

 coverts long and brown. Tail short, outer feathers 

 on either side brownish-black, tipped with dirty 

 white. Throat, breast, belly, and vent yellowish- 

 white, tinged with brown, the first-named being 

 sparingly speckled and streaked with a darker hue ; 

 breast streaked and spotted more thickly with the 

 same colour. Legs, toes, and claws brown ; hind 

 claw long and curved. 



The female is smaller than the male, and is 

 said to be yellower on the breast and to have larger 

 markings. Distinguished from the Skylark by its 

 more slender bill and shorter tail. 



Situation and Locality. On the ground, usually 

 well concealed by a tuft of grass, heather, or 

 low plant ; sometimes at the foot of a tree or on the 

 side of a bank, in fields and pastures, on commons 



