LARKS — WAGTAILS AND PIPITS — B UN TINGS 6 1 



northern Africa from Morocco to Egypt and Nubia. Frequenting cornfields and 



meadows, steppes and deserts, it leads a life similar to that of the skylark, which it 



resembles in all its habits, including that of nesting on the ground. In winter it 



associates in immense flocks with larks of other species. An excellent songster, 



it trills its melody with the addition of many passages from the songs of other 



birds, so that its chant is full of variety. It is especially vocal at pairing-time 



when the male soars to such a height that his presence is betrayed only by his 



melody. This lark, which is 7 inches in length, has a large thick beak, a short 



tail, and resembles the European skylark in colour and markings, except that the 



coverts are bright rufous and form a shoulder-patch. 



The crested lark ranges from Europe into and beyond south-western Asia. 



whereas the area of the woodlark does not extend farther east than Asia Minor. 



The desert-larks are distinguished \yy their broad flat crest, quite unlike the 



pointed one of the crested larks, and the long thin beak. One of these (Alcemon 



desertorum), an unmistakable bird of the desert, in its sandy grey colouring, 



inhabits the whole of the desert-zone extending from north-western Africa to the 



west of British India, although nowhere very common, being distributed in solitary 



pairs, each of which claims a territory of its own. The song is short and simple ; 



the nest is made on the sand, and the eggs are greyish with sandy markings. 



Wagtails and Of the wagtails, the white species is rarer in south-western Asia 



Pipits. anc i th e south generally than its common European relative, the grey 



wagtail, which ranges from central and southern Europe and northern Africa through 



the corresponding latitudes of Asia to the Far East. The yellow wagtails, in various 



forms, have a similarly extensive range. The pipits are represented within the 



present area by the water pipit and the tawny pipit, the former inhabiting the 



mountains and the latter the plains. 



Several European buntings are found in south-western Asia and 

 Bunting's. . . , 



other parts of the Mediterranean area, as, for instance, the corn bunting, 



the ortolan, the cirl bunting, the meadow bunting, and the reed bunting. Another 

 species inhabiting south-western Asia is the black-headed bunting (Emberiza 

 melanocephala), which does not breed in Europe, though it straggles as far west 

 as the British Isles. It inhabits south-eastern Europe and south-western Asia, 

 and ranges from the shores of the Adriatic and the lower slopes of the Caucasus 

 to India, migrating east and west instead of south and north. In India it 

 appears from November to March in large numbers, doing great damage to the 

 fields, and in Asia Minor and Turkey arrives at the end of April in one flock, so 

 that places near the seashore, where not a single bunting was seen the day before, 

 suddenly resound with its song. It nests by preference in sage-bushes and the 

 Christ's thorn (Paliurus aculeatus) or on the ground, and feeds on insects and 

 seeds. In length it measures 7 inches, and in colour is light bay with no streaks 

 on the sides, but the conspicuous black cap from which it takes its name. 

 The rusty Cretzschmar's bunting (E. ccesia) dwells in the desert parts of south- 

 eastern Europe and south-western Asia, where it frequents barren rocky hills and 

 nests among shrubs and isolated rocks. This bird is rather smaller and somewhat 

 more brightly coloured than the ortolan, with a grey head, neck, and chest-band, 

 and a rich chestnut throat and breast. 



