264 BRITISH BIRDS. 



frequents the roads, the open fields, the dried-up beds of watercourses, the 

 broad sand-plains, and the mountain heights ; and in the latter situation I 

 took its nest 5000 feet above the level of the sea, hidden amongst the 

 pieces of rock and scanty vegetation of the mountain-sides. In some 

 localities this bird was almost the only sign of life, as it alternately flew 

 and settled before us as we went along. Upon the ground it runs very 

 quickly, and its crest is more often kept close down to the head than held 

 erect ; nevertheless it can always be seen. Although the Crested Lark does 

 not, so far as I know, associate with Desert-Larks, it frequents the same 

 places, and in the half dried-up Oued Biskra both species were very 

 common. I often saw this bird soar into the air for perhaps a hundred 

 yards or so, all the time warbling its simple song ; and I have watched it 

 for some time in the act of singing when perched on an oleander bush. 

 It is rather a skulking bird, and if shot at much soon becomes very wild 

 and shy. I seldom noticed it near houses ; it seemed quite independent 

 of man, and apparently able to get a sustenance in localities that seemed 

 incapable of supporting any bird-life at all. 3 ' 



The breeding-season of the Crested Lark commences early in April, 

 sometimes later. In many cases the bird will build its nest quite close to 

 houses, on ploughed land, in corn-fields, and in gardens ; and Naumann 

 says that it is sometimes placed on an old earth- wall or amongst the thatch 

 of a low shed in the fields. In less cultivated districts the bird's choice is 

 often made amongst the scanty herbage on the mountain-sides or beneath 

 the shelter of a little stunted bush ; whilst on the bare and sterile desert 

 it places its nest amongst the stones and scanty vegetation struggling for 

 existence against the fierce sun and the arid waterless soil. The nest is 

 almost always built upon the ground, either in a little hole scratched out 

 by the parent bird or in the footprint of some animal : it is somewhat 

 loosely made of dry grass, twitch, rootlets, and a few straws, and is often 

 lined with a few hairs ; but the latter material is not always used, for 

 sometimes it cannot be obtained. The male is said to keep company with 

 his mate and to assist her in collecting materials when the nest is being 

 built, but he does not take any share in its construction. The eggs of the 

 Crested Lark are four or five in number, and differ considerably in the 

 colour and character of the markings. The ground-colour varies from the 

 palest of creamy white to very pale greenish white, spotted, mottled, and 

 blotched with almost neutral brown, and with numerous underlying mark- 

 ings of violet-grey. Some eggs resemble very closely those of the Calandra 

 Lark, the brown spots being well defined, and the grey markings large and 

 conspicuous. The spots on this type are evenly distribiited over the entire 

 surface, but do not hide more than half of the ground-colour. Another 

 type is very finely dusted and speckled with hair-brown, most numerously 

 at the large end of the egg, where many of the markings are confluent, 



