SPECIES 2. ALAUDA .ALPESTRIS.* 

 SHORE LARK. 



[Plate V. Fig. 4.] 



Mauda alpestris, LINN. Syst. 289. LATH. Syn. n, S85.Mauda 

 campestris gutture flavo, BARTRAM, p. 290. UMouette dt> Vir- 

 ginie, BUFF, v, 55. CATESB. i, 32. PEALE'S Museum, JV. 

 5190.1 



THIS is the most beautiful of its genus, at least in this part of 

 the world. 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 nu- 

 merous in the southern states, as far as Georgia, during that sea- 

 son. They fly high, in loose scattered flocks; and at these times 

 have a single cry, almost exactly like the Sky-Lark of Britain. 

 They are very numerous in many tracts of New Jersey; and 

 are frequently brought to Philadelphia market. They are then 

 generally very fat, and are considered excellent eating. Their 

 food seems principally to consist of small round compressed 

 black seeds, buckwheat, oats, &c. with a large proportion of 

 gravel. On the flat commons, within the boundaries of the city 

 of Philadelphia, flocks of them are regularly seen during the 

 whole winter. In the stomach of these I have found, in numer- 

 ous instances, quantities of the eggs or larvae of certain insects, 

 mixed with a kind of slimy earth. About the middle of March 

 they generally disappear, on their route to the north. Forster 



* Of the three species referred by Wilson to Jllauda this is the only one 

 which belongs to that genus, as restricted by modern ornithologists. 



fWe add the following synonymes: Jllauda alpestris, Liiny. Ed. 10. Syst. i, 

 p. 166 GMEL. Syst. i, p. 800. LATH. Ind. Orn. n, p. 498. Jllauda flava, 

 GMEL, Sysl. r, p. 800, (adult male in breeding dress). Jllauda Virginiana, 

 Bmss, ITI, p. 367, 12. Jllouette de Siberie, BUFF. PI. Enl. 650, TJO-. 2. 



