PLECTROPHENAX. ALAUDA. 35 



numbers arrive in autumn from the arctic regions as Winter 

 Visitors and usually frequent the vicinity of the coast and the 

 hill-country. It is also a Bird of Passage en route to and from 

 its high northern summer haunts and its \\interretreatssouth 

 of our shores. 



General Distribution. The Snow-Bunting breeds in the 

 arctic and sub-arctic regions of the Old and New Worlds. 

 It wanders in winter as far south as the Mediterranean 

 and occasionally to the Canary Islands, Azores, and nortl ern 

 Africa ; also in Asia to Japan and north China, and in 

 America over the greater part of the United States, and 

 even, it is said, to the Andes of South America. 



Family ALAUDID^E. 



Genus ALAUDA Linnaus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 1G5. 

 Type : A. arvensis Linn. 



Alauda = the Sky-Lark, in Pliny N. H. xi. 44 ; said to be a Celtic word, 

 meaning " great songstress " from al = high or great, and and = a song. Cf. 

 French alouette, Breton al' choueder. 



Alauda arvensis. SKY-LARK. 



Alauda arvensis Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 165 : 

 Sweden. 



Alauda arvensis Linn.; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 71 ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xiii. 1890, p. 567; Saunders, 

 Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 249. 



Arvensis = of a field. 



Distribution in the British Islands. Resident and widely 

 distributed in England, Scotland and Ireland, where many 

 individuals are only Summer Visitors, especially in the 

 northern and more elevated districts. A Winter Visitor and 

 Bird of Passage from northern and central Europe. 



General Distribution. -The typical race of the Sky-Lark 

 breeds in Europe with the exception of southern Italy? 

 south-eastern Europe, and the islands of the Mediterranean, 



D2 



