THE LARKS 205 



THE LARKS 

 [W. P. PYCRAFT] 



For most people there is but one lark, which most prefer to call 

 the skylark. Nevertheless no fewer than seven well-marked species 

 are entitled to a place in our list of British birds, though of four 1 

 of these, at any rate, it must be said that their visits are like angels 

 visits few and far between. 



Notoriety brings its penalties, and the dominating personality of 

 the skylark becomes, naturally, the standard of comparison for the 

 family. Larger than most of its members, 2 sombre in hue, and 

 a songster of rare sweetness, he combines at once all the salient 

 characters of his race. And this is true equally of those less obvious 

 characters which, for their discovery, must be pursued "with forks 

 and hope." These are the characters used by the systematist to 

 distinguish the larks from other groups of birds near and remotely 

 allied ; and such characters include the form of the wing, the 

 number and shape of the quill feathers, the shape and size of the 

 beak, and the nature of the scales which envelop the foot. 



A more or less well-marked crest, formed by the elongation of 

 the feathers of the crown, is characteristic of the larks, and so also 

 is the curious notching of the tips of the secondary wing-quills, the 

 innermost of which, in the larks, as in some other groups in no way 

 related, are elongated so as to conceal the primaries when the wing 

 is closed. The significance of this peculiarity remains so far un- 

 explained. A still more curious feature, not alone confined to the 

 larks, is the elongation of the claw of the hind toe, which forms a long 

 slender spur of unknown function, though various attempts have been 



1 The four are noted above at the foot of the Identification Notes. 



2 It is exceeded only by two species of the genus MelanocoryphaM. calandra and 

 M. maxima. 



2D 



