259 

 SHORE LARK. 



Otocorys alpestris (L ). 



Winter visitant to the coast line, irregular in numbers. Occurs 

 annually at the estuary of the Tees. 



The honour of introducing the Shore Lark to the Yorkshire 

 avi-fauna is due to Mr. Thomas Allis who, in a communication 

 to the Zoologist (1854, P- 4 2 5 I )> dated February 1854, wrote : 



" I have a fine specimen of this rare bird, which was 

 shot at Filey, on the Yorkshire coast, in the early part of 

 March 1853 ; a second was seen at the same time but was 

 not obtained." 



Thanks to the increased attention paid to ornithology, 

 and the careful investigations made by a few latter day 

 coast observers, amongst whom may be mentioned Messrs. 

 Boyes, Cordeaux, and Eagle Clarke, the Shore Lark is now 

 known to be a winter visitant to the Yorkshire coast on 

 migration in October and November, and also later in the 

 season ; the numbers fluctuate in different years, but in its 

 favourite haunts, which are the estuaries of the Tees and 

 Humber, and Flamborough Head, the bird is found not 

 infrequently, and at the Teesmouth it may be observed 

 with unfailing regularity. At Filey, Scarborough, Whitby, 

 and other parts of the seaboard, it is also reported, but it 

 is not met with annually in these places excepting in the 

 Staithes and Loftus district, where scores are sometimes seen 

 after severe weather. 



In 1879-80 a large flock was noticed near Kilnsea, and 

 twenty-three specimens were obtained during the winter ; 

 since then the Spurn district has been closely worked and the 

 occurrences of Shore Larks have been recorded regularly 

 in the columns of ornithological journals, with the result 

 that that neighbourhood is regarded as the chief habitat of 

 the bird in Yorkshire. In addition to the season mentioned 

 1879-80 it was abundant in 1883, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1894-5, 

 and 1898-9 ; and the time when it is most frequently noticed 



