188 THE SHORT-TOED LARK. 



on wing, although its song is comparatively short. It springs from 

 the moss or naked rock obliquely for about forty yards, begins and 

 ends its madrigal, then performs a few irregular evolutions, and 

 returns to the ground. There also it sings, but less frequently, and 

 with less fullness. Its call-note is quite mellow, and altered at 

 times in a ventriloquial manner, so different, as to seem like that of 

 another species. As soon as the young are hatched, the whole are 

 comparatively mute, merely using the call-note. Only one brood is 

 reared each season. The food of the Shore Lark consists of grass 

 seeds, the blossoms of dwarf plants, and insects. It is an expert 

 catcher of flies, following insects on wing to a considerable distance, 

 and now and then betaking itself to the sea-shore to search for 

 minute shell-fish or crustacese. 



SHORT-TOEL) LAKX. 



THE SHORT-TOED LARK (Alauda Irachydactyld). We 

 are not aware that more than a single specimen of this bird 

 has been taken in Britain ; that was at Shrewsbury in 

 1841. It bears some resemblance to the Woodlark, from 

 which it may be readily distinguished by its stouter beak, 

 its nearly plain and unspotted breast, and its very short 

 hind toes and claws, from which latter peculiarity its name 

 is derived. The length of the specimen taken here was 

 five inches and three-quarters. 



Temininck states that this bird is very abundant in Sicily, 

 and that it is found generally along the shores of the Medi- 

 terranean, in Spain, and in the southern and central parts of 

 France ; its extreme northern range in Europe appears to 



