82 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



tivated districts, and building its nest after the manner 

 of our bird in a depression on the earth amongst 

 herbage ; it lays four or five eggs, not unlike those of 

 the Skylark, but larger ; it is a pleasing songster, and 

 sings chiefly when soaring ; after the breeding season 

 it is gregarious. In the summer it lives upon insects 

 .and seeds, and in the winter on seeds alone. In cap- 

 tivity it should be fed exactly in the same manner as all 

 other Larks upon soft food, canaryseed, mealworms, 

 and any small insects or their larvse which may be 

 obtainable ; a little watercress or chickweed will also 

 prove beneficial in the summer time. 



TIEN-TSIN OR MONGOLIAN LARK 



(Melonocorypha mongolica) . 



The. prevailing colour above is brown, the feathers of 

 the back and rump with central blackish streaks ; the 

 primary coverts are brown with pale margins, as are 

 also the primaries ; the upper tail-coverts are ferru- 

 ginous-brown towards their edges, which are margined 

 -with white ; the tail-feathers are dark brown, Avith 

 very broad ferruginous margins on the centre feathers, 

 the remainder are edged with white along both webs, 

 most widely on the outer feathers, the outermost being 

 entirely white ; on the sides of the neck in front is a 

 large patch of black, which meets across the throat, 



THE TIEN-TSIN LARK. 



forming a distinct collar with narrow centre ; the back 

 of the neck rufous or chestnut ; the crown of the head 

 of the same colour, but with a pale central patch, a 

 broad white eyebrow produced backwards to join a 

 creamy buif band round the nape ; under parts white, 

 the sides of the throat, cheeks, sides of breast and 

 thighs tinged with tawny, the lateral breast-feathers 

 having also dusky centres ; bill clear flesh-coloured ; 

 legs reddish-brown, the toes yellowish with brown 

 claws ; iris of eye ashy-brown. Hab. . Eastern Siberia 

 to Northern China and Kokonoor. The flight of this 

 Lark is undulating and very rapid ; like our English 

 bird, it rises towards the sky in song, but it does not 

 soar so high ; it also sings when flying near the ground 

 or from the top of a stone. It is mentioned as a re- 

 markable fact that the Tien-tsin Lark sometimes 

 perches on trees, but I had a tame nestling English 

 Skylark which spent a great part of the day either 

 on a branch in the aviary at a height of at least 6 ft. 

 from the ground or upon the ledges inside the wire 

 netting. Even in its wild state the Skylark sometimes, 

 though rarely, perches upon a branch, and not infre- 

 quently upon a clipped hedge or fence ; therefore, the 



behaviour of the Mongolian Lark is not very strange 

 after all. The Tien-tsin Lark begins to lay early in 

 June, so that it is a late nester ; the eggs are of a 

 dirty yellow white colour, with grey or pale brown lines 

 and spots. The natural song of the bird is described 

 as not at all copious, but its power of mocking other 

 birds, especially when kept in a cage, has been 

 remarked. 



Mr. Abrahams kindly gave me a fine example about 

 1891, which had picked up so many notes through long 

 companionship with other birds and beasts that its song 

 was very entertaining. It commenced with the tweet 

 of a Canary, admirably reproduced, then two harsh 

 notes and a shrill chirp, three harsh notes and a chirp, 

 four and a chirp, then about nine or ten shrill 

 chirps all alike, followed by a run, in true Lark lan- 

 guage, two whistled notes and a chirp, about five 

 double notes, almost like the chisick of a Wagtail ; then 

 a long whistled note, another series of double notes 

 and three or four long notes ; three or four Lark trills, 

 shortening with repetition ; four long notes, three 

 chirps ; three long notes, three chirps ; a staccato Bcale 

 or two, terminating plaintively ; then five or six harsh 

 notes, and, lastly, an exact imitation of the miaw of a 

 cat, repeated from three to eight times ; or more if 

 answerer! by a similar miaw.* 



The Chinese cages are provided with a central 

 wooden pedestal, from which the song is usually de- 

 livered, though at times a food tin is used for the pur- 

 pose. They are circular in shape, and cannot easily be 

 cleaned, and as that in which my bird was given to me 

 did not satisfy me, I had one made on my own plan, 

 2 ft. in length, wooden at back and ends, and with a 

 good height (about three inches), wooden in front, bars 

 of curved willow, arched over the remainder of front 

 and top, the food and water pans sliding in troughs 

 from front along each end of cage ; a fixed mushroom- 

 like table in the centre for the bird to sing from, no 

 draw-tray, but a movable slip to admit scraper, sand 

 sifted in at the top. This answered admirably. 



This bird is considerably larger than our English 

 Lark, its total length being 8 l-5th in. 



BLACK LARK (Mclanocorypha ydtoniensis}. 



Entirely black ; some of the feathers with traces of 

 sandy-buff fringes, probably the remains of the winter 

 fringes, which are, broadly, sandy. Female sandy- 

 brown, with dark centres to the feathers ; flights 

 blackish with whity-brown edges, whiter on the 

 primaries ; crown mottled with black ; under surface 

 white, throat washed 'with sandy-buffish ; fore neck, 

 breast, and sides spotted or streaked with black ; flanks 

 more distinctly streaked ; wing distinctly shorter than 

 in the male. Hab., " Central Asia, ranging into 

 Southern Russia, and sometimes even further west- 

 ward." (Sharpe.) 



Although a flock of this species appeared on the 

 south-east coast of England towards the end of Jan- 

 uary, 1907, it is a significant fact that about that t'me 

 many from the Continent were on sale in Leadenhall 

 Market. Larks, Quails, and Ortolans are generally 

 imported in runners containing perhaps from fifty to 

 sixty, or even more, specimens. I have seen them 

 crowded together like bullocks in a cattle-truck, with 

 barely room to pick up the seed scattered on the floor 

 of the cage. An accident to one of these cages during 

 the transit of a consignment from the Continent would 

 release quite a respectable flock, which would be pretty 

 certain to make for the nearest land. For this reason 

 I do not consider that the claim of the Black Lark to 



* The song was carefully noted whilst the bird was sinking. 



