THE LARKS 219 



wearer a measure of concealment from its enemies by reason of 

 the harmony of such coloration with its environment. In the shore- 

 lark we meet with a relatively resplendent livery, inasmuch as the 

 head is enlivened with patches of black, white, and yellow, while a 

 gorget of black spreads across the chest ; for the rest the plumage may 

 be described as lark-like, save that the upper parts have a hue as of a 

 delicate wine stain, and in place of the characteristic lark-like crest, 

 a pair of "horns" or elongated feathers are developed, which can be 

 erected on either side of the hinder part of the crown, a character 

 shared in common with several other allied species which have not 

 occurred in the British Islands. How far this coloration is related 

 to the bird's environment no man can say. 



Circumpolar in its range, and nowhere, apparently, breeding 

 below the Arctic Circle, this bird would be unknown to those of us 

 who dwell in more favoured regions but for its habit of migrating 

 southwards in winter. Hence it is not surprising that but little is 

 known of its habits. Like the Lapland- and snow-buntings, it is a 

 bird of the tundra, confining itself to sandy plains and rocky hills, 

 avoiding marshy places, though frequenting the mud-shores of rivers 

 to drink, and the seaboard when near the coast. Seebohm met 

 with it in large numbers on migration when in Siberia, and remarks 

 that the males arrive first, 1 but the females soon follow, when the 

 flock join, and band together with flocks of Lapland-buntings. Of its 

 habits in winter, however, little is known, but it seems to lead a 

 roving life, flocking soon after the autumn moult. Until recent years 

 it was reckoned among our rarer British birds, but is now a regular 

 winter visitant along our eastern coasts, coming thus far south to 

 avoid the rigours of winter in the high northern latitudes. It has also 

 been noticed in the spring migration. 



Not until May is well advanced are the first eggs laid, 2 and in 

 Siberia not until the middle of June ; and this is probably determined 

 by the abundance of insect life, for it feeds on small Mollusca, the 



1 Seebohm, Birds of Siberia, pp. 74-85. 2 Seebohm, British Birds, vol. ii. p. 257. 



