SHORE LARK 



PLATE LXXI I. FIGURE I. 



Alauda alpestris, . . JENYNS. GOULD. EYTON. 

 Otocorys alpestris, . . GRAY. NEWTON. 



THE Shore Lark is an irregular visitor to Great Britain. 

 The nest, which is composed of fine grasses, cir- 

 cularly disposed, and lined with feathers, willow down, and 

 reindeer hair, resembles in colour the moss in which it is 

 embedded, and is placed on the ground, in the desolate 

 regions where moss and stunted grasses are almost the 

 only vegetation. 



The eggs are four or five in number, pale greenish 

 or greyish white, spotted with pale brown spots. They 

 are laid from the middle of May to the middle of June. 



The young, says M. Audubon, which are hatched about 

 the middle of July, and fully fledged by the ist of August, 

 leave the nest before they are able to fly, and follow their 

 parents over the moss, in which they drop, and endeavour 

 to conceal themselves on the appearance of any danger. 

 They run nimbly, and if observed and pursued, the same 

 author further relates that they utter a soft "peep," open 



