HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



335 



SHORE LARK. 



Among the different species of Larks found in Cali- 

 fornia, the most beautiful is the Shore Lark, (Alauda 

 Alpestris.) 



This beautiful species, says Nuttall, is common to 

 the north of both the old and new continent, but, as 

 in some other instances already remarked, the Shore 

 Lark extends its migrations much further over x\merica 

 than over Europe and Asia. Our bird was met with 

 in the Arctic regions by the late adventurous voyagers, 

 and Mr. Bullock saw them in the winter around the 

 city of Mexico, so that in their migrations over this 

 continent they spread themselves across the whole 

 habitable northern hemisphere to the very equator ; 

 while in Europe, according to the careful observations 

 of Temminck, they are unknown to the south of Ger- 

 many. Pallas met with these birds roun:! Lake Baikal 

 and on the Wolga, in the 58d degree of latitude. 

 Westward they have also been seen in the interior of 

 the United States, along the shores of the Missouri. 



Inseparable in all their movements, like the hen 



