THE LARKS 49 



THE SHORE LARK, 



(Alauda alpestris.} 

 PLATE IV. FIGURE I. 



THIS bird, which is found in the northern parts of Europe and 

 Asia, and plentifully in America, is with us a very rare species, the 

 taking of only four specimens here having been recorded: one in 

 Norfolk, one in Lincolnshire, and two in Kent. It is about seven 

 inches in length, that is, a little smaller than the Skylark, which it 

 resembles in shape, having a rather full body, short neck, moderately 

 sized head, and long wings and tail; the plumage however is more 

 marked and decided in its contrast of colours; which in the upper 

 parts of the body are pale brownish red, marked with dark brown, 

 and the lower parts white, clouded at places with brown. There is a 

 band on the top of the head, in the summer, of black, and another 

 extending from the beak to beneath the eye, and thence down towards 

 the neck, which is divided from the breast by another black crescent- 

 shaped band; these marks, upon a white ground, stand out very dis- 

 tinctly in the summer plumage; but in the winter they are not so 

 plain, the white being more dusky, and the black not so intense. 

 British naturalists have had few opportunities of observing the habits 

 of this bird, which is sometimes called the Tufted or Horned Lark, 

 because, like the Sky Lark, it can erect at pleasure a crest of feathers 

 on the top of the head. Its common and scientific names would 

 imply that it is a haunter of shores, and such lonely and wild places. 

 From the American naturalist, Audubon, we learn that it breeds in 

 the high and desolate tracts of Labrador, in the vicinity of the sea. 

 The face of the country appears as if formed of one undulated ex- 

 panse of granite, covered with mosses and lichens, varying in size 

 and colour some green, others as white as snow; and others again 

 of every tint, and disposed in large patches and tufts. It is in the 

 latter the Lark places her nest, which is formed with much care, the 

 moss so closely resembling the bird, that unless you almost tread on 

 her as she sits, she seems to feel secure, and remains unmoved. 

 Should you, however, approach too near, she flutters away, feigning 



