360 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



November 1870, which measured 6'02 ins. (153 mm.}. In the first- 

 named example the wing measured 3 - 26 ins. (83 mm.), the tail T96 

 in. (50 mm.) ; whilst, in the last-named, the wings were 378 ins. 

 (96 mm.), and the tail 2'56 ins. (65 mm). The birds of the year from 

 the south-east, on the contrary, exhibit scarcely any difference in 

 size. 



I kept one of these pretty little birds over a year in a cage ; it 

 had been momentarily stunned by a very light shot which had 

 grazed the back of its head, but recovered very soon, and became 

 extraordinarily tame. It underwent a complete moult in the 

 autumn, managed to get safely through the winter, and sang 

 heartily during the spring ; but died, much to my regret, at the 

 beginning of the summer. Its song was much more like that of 

 a Bunting than a Skylark. I fed it on canary-seed, which, like a 

 Lapland Bunting in a cage hanging by its side, it used to peel 

 before consuming ; a Shore Lark, on the other hand, which I had 

 had over ten years in a cage, never did this. 



This Lark occurs as resident breeding species from Portugal 

 through all the countries of the Mediterranean and as far as India. 

 Heligoland is the extreme northern limit up to which it has been 

 observed as an exceptional occurrence. 



164. Calandra Lark [KALANDER-LERCHE]. 

 ALAUDA CALANDKA, Linn. 1 



Alauda calandra. Naumann, iv. p. 127. 



Calandra Lark. Dresser, IT. 365. 



Alouette calandre. Temminck, Manuel, 276, iii. 206. 



At the beginning of June 1839 or 1840, one of these birds was 

 shot by Reymers on Sandy Island : that is all that can be reported 

 about it from this island. It has, unfortunately, never yet been 

 captured during all the time I have been collecting. This is the 

 more surprising, inasmuch as, being a south European species, it 

 inhabits Greece as numerously as the Short-toed Lark, of which 

 species examples have occurred here almost every year. Probably 

 the bird has a particular aversion towards travelling northwards, 

 just as we find many species from eastern Asia which do not 

 deviate westwards from their normal southern autumn migration ; 

 while large numbers of other species, breeding side by side with 

 these, do so annually to a very considerable extent. 



The Calandra Lark is a breeding bird in all the countries of the 

 Mediterranean, both in Europe and Africa, and also in Asia Minor 

 and Palestine. 



1 Melanocorypha calandra (Linn.). 



