188 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



" I kept one of these pretty little birds over a year in a cage ; it had 

 been momentarily stunned by a very light shot which had grazed the back 

 of its head, but recovered very soon, and became extraordinarily tame. It 

 underwent a complete moult in the autumn, managed to get safely through 

 the winter, and sang heartily during the spring ; but died, much to my regret, 

 at the beginning of the summer. Its song was much more like that of a 

 Bunting than a Sky-Lark. I fed it on Canary-seed, which, like a Lapland 

 Bunting in a cage hanging by its side, it used to peel before consuming ; * 

 a Shore-Lark on the other hand, which I had had for over ten years in a 

 cage, never did this." 



Family ALA UDIDJE. 



THE WHITE-WINGED LARK. 



Melanocorypha sibirica, 



THIS species is admitted into the British list in consequence of a female 

 having been captured alive near Brighton on November 22nd, 1869, and 

 exhibited by Mr. G. Dawson Rowley at a meeting of the Zoological Society 

 held Jan. 27th, 1870. I quite agree with Seebohm that it "has not the 

 slightest claim to be considered a British bird." It is a common Russian 

 species ; and, by anyone acquainted with the allied Mongolian Lark, is exceed- 

 ingly likely to have been brought to England, and liberated when the discovery 

 was made that (being a female) it had no song. Had it been a male it 

 would probably never have been seen at large. The allied Calandra Lark, 

 which is a well-known cage bird, has quite as much claim, in my opinion, to 

 be regarded as British. 



This should have been translated 'husk' (not peel). A.G.B. 



