60 THE SMALLER BRITISH BIRDS. 



lameness so cunningly, that not one accustomed to the sight can 

 scarcely refrain from pursuing her. Tho male immediately joins her 

 in mimic wretchedness, uttering a note so soft and plaintive, that it 

 requires a strong stimulus to force the naturalist to rob the poor 

 birds of their treasure. 



The nest is embedded in the moss to its edges, it is composed of 

 fine grasses circularly disposed, and forming a bed about two inches 

 thick, with a lining of feathers. In the beginning of July, the eggs 

 are deposited; they are four or five in number, large, greyish, and 

 covered with numerous pale blue and brown spots. The young birds 

 leave the nest before they are able to fly, and follow their parents 

 over the moss, where they are fed about a week. 



THE SHORT-TOED LARK, 



(Alauda brachydactyla.) 

 PLATE IV. FIGURE II. 



IP we dissect the above scientific name of this, to us, rare species, 

 we shall find that it consists of three Latin words Alauda, a Lark; 

 brachus, short; and dadylos, a finger, indicating a peculiarity in the 

 foot of the bird, which distinguishes it from the other species of its 

 genus, all of them with which we are acquainted having remarkably 

 long hind claws, while this has them unusually short. 



Its claim to a place in the list of British Birds rests upon a single 

 specimen taken in a net near Shrewsbury, in October, 1841. It is 

 described as differing but little from the Wood Lark, than which it 

 has a stouter bill, a breast more plain and unspotted, and the hind 

 toes much less elongated. 



Temminck says that this bird is very abundant in Sicily, and is 

 found generally along tho shores of the Mediterranean, in Spain and 

 the southern and central parts of France; its northern range appears to 

 extend to Germany, among the birds of which country it is included 

 by M. Brehm. It is said to feed on insects and seeds, to make its nest 

 upon the ground, and lay four or five eggs of a dull yellow, or pale 

 coffee colour, without any spots. Gould says, that between the plumage 



