THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 359 



species from the Lower Volga, and the area of the Caspian Sea to 

 Turkestan, and Persia, and as far as Mongolia and China. 



163. Short-toed Lark [KURZZEHIGE LERCHE]. 

 ALAUDA BRACHYDACTYLA, Leisler. 1 



Heligolandish : Liitj Lortsk = SmaW Lark. 



Alauda brachydactyla. Naumann, iv. 188. 



Short-toed Lark. Dresser, iv. 341. 



Alouette calandrelle. Temminck, Manuel, i. 284, iii. 205. 



Formerly, hardly a year passed without this pretty little Lark 

 being observed here at the end of May or June, even though only 

 in very solitary instances. 



In former years, when more favourable conditions of weather 

 prevailed, the bird was seen pretty frequently in autumn, sometimes 

 even as late as November. During the time I have been collecting, 

 it has passed through my hands about thirty times ; and besides 

 that, it has been seen and heard, without being killed, on an equal 

 number of occasions. 



The examples obtained in summer which undoubtedly origi- 

 nate from Greece and Asia Minor are invariably much more 

 ferruginous, especially the males, than those which have been shot 

 here in October and November. The home of the latter in Asia 

 must extend to the latitude of Heligoland, the birds there undoubt- 

 edly joining themselves to the many other species from the far 

 East whose autumn migration proceeds in a westerly direction. In 

 the absence of any single actual instance in support of it, the idea 

 of an autumn migration directed to the north-west from Greece or 

 Asia Minor cannot be entertained. 



The predominant colour of the upper parts of the October birds 

 is a pale dull clay-yellow (blasses trubes Lehmgelb); the under 

 side is almost pure white, suffused on the sides of the upper breast 

 and flanks with the colouring of the back ; the birds of the year 

 from the south-east, on the other hand, are nearly all of a pale 

 ferruginous colour. In a male of this kind obtained in June, the 

 whole crown of the head is of a vivid ferruginous, each separate 

 feather, however, having a fine rust-brown stripe on the shaft. 



There is a remarkable difference in the sizes of the autumn 

 birds which have occurred here : thus, some examples which I have 

 obtained did not exceed 5 ins. (127 mm.) in length ; others again 

 are much larger, as, for instance, an example shot on the 14th of 



1 Calandrella brachydactyla (Leisl. ), 



