THE SHORE I. 



:; ,- 



The IVnHH.-d Urk is a very ran- MM. :m.l has comparatively recently been intn-du,-,*! i,, 

 It i. r,.uu.l in Persia, especially about Enwroum, and is worths '.f notice on account 

 <.f (he greatly d.-v.-loprd j-Mirils ,,f dark feathers from hi,-h , f ,|. rivi* it* nan* 

 I-i. tiily. thouirh nut brightly, colored bird. Th,- U|.|MT j^rt ,,f t| 1( - U.ly in darkiah ash. th.- 

 w ings and quill-feathers being of a browniah oast, with the except i. .1, , ,f 







which are white. The forehead, tin- <-hin. ear-coverta, breast, and abdomen are white, and 

 the two projecting pencils are jetty blark. The top of the head and the nape of the neck are 

 also ashen, but with a purple wash. The tail is dark brown, with the exception of the two 

 central feathers, which are dusky gray. 



A CLOSELY allied species is the SHORK-LARK, a bird which has occasionally been seen, and 

 of course killed, in England, although its ordinary dwelling-place is in North America. Of 

 this bird, Wilson speaks as follows : 



" It is one of our winter birds of passage, arriving from the north in the fall ; usually 

 staying with us the whole winter, frequenting sandy plains and open downs, and is numerous 

 in the Southern States, as far as Georgia, during that season. They fly high in loose, scat- 

 tered flocks, and at these times have a singular cry, almost exactly like the sky-lark of Britain. 



"They are very numerous in many tracts of New Jersey, and an- fn-jm-ntly brought to 

 Philadelphia niark.-t. Th-y are then generally vry fat, and are considered <-x .-ll.-nt eating. 

 Their food seems principally to consist of small round compressed seeds, buckwheat, oats, 

 etc., with a large proportion of gravel. On the flat oimnons, within the boundaries of the 

 rity of Philadelphia, flocks of them are regularly seen during the whole winter. In the 

 stomachs of them I have found, in numerous instances, quantiti.- of the eggs or lame of cer- 

 tain insects, mixed with a kind of slimy earth. About the middle of March they generally 

 disappear, on th-ir rout.- t<> th- north." 



Forster informs us that they visit tin- nvimns (.f Albany first in th- beginning of May, 

 but go farther north to breed; that th.-y feed on grass seeds and hud- of th. s,. r inir l.in-h. 

 and run into small holes, keeping close to the ground ; from whence the natives call them 



