266 BRITISH BIRDS. 



ALAUDA ARVENSIS. 

 SKY-LARK. 



(PLATE 15.) 



Alauda alauda, Hr:'ss. Orn. iii. p. 335 (1760). 



Alauda arveiisis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 287 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Scopoli, Latham, Temminck, Naumann, Bonaparte, Salvadori, Newton, Dresser, 



&c. 



Alauda italica, Gmel Syst. Nat. i. p. 793 (1788). 

 Alauda vulgaris, Leach, Syst. Cut. Mamm. fyc. Brit. Mus. p. 21 (1816). 

 Alauda coelipeta, Pall. Zooyr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 524 (1826). 

 Alauda cantarella, Bonap. Comp. List B. JEur. fy N. Amer. p. 37 (1838). 

 Alauda montana, Crespon, Faun, merid. France, p. 319 (1844). 

 Alauda triborhynchus, Hudgs., Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 84 (1844). 

 Alauda dulcivox, Hodys., Gray's Zool. Misc. p. 84 (1844). 

 Alauda japonica, Temm. 8f Schleg. Faun. Japan, p. 87, pi. xlvii. (1847). 

 Alauda pekinensis, Sioinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 89. 

 Alauda intermedia, Sioinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 89. 



The Sky-Lark is very widely distributed throughout the British Islands, 

 and is a resident except in the extreme north. It is as common in 

 Scotland as it is in England, extending to the Outer Hebrides, the 

 Orkneys, and Shetland. The same remarks apply to Ireland, where it is 

 as widely dispersed as in the rest of the United Kingdom. 



The Sky-Lark inhabits nearly the whole of the Palaearctic Region, from 

 England to Kamtschatka. As is the case with so many other birds, its 

 range becomes more restricted both to the north and the south as it 

 proceeds eastwards. In Western Europe it breeds up to latitude 70 

 (although it is comparatively rare north of the Arctic circle) and in North 

 Africa as far south as the southern slopes of the Atlas Mountains. In 

 Archangel it is comparatively rare; in the valley of the Petchora Harvie- 

 Brown and I only obtained two stragglers, in lat. 65^ ; in the valley of the 

 Yenesay I only obtained one specimen, in lat. 66^ ; and in East Siberia it 

 has not been obtained north of lat. 60. In Japan, the valley of the Amoor, 

 South-east Mongolia, Turkestan, and Persia it only breeds at high eleva- 

 tions. To Asia Minor, Palestine, Greece, and Egypt it is only a winter 

 visitor, and comparatively rare in the latter country. It also winters in 

 North-west India and North China. To Europe north of the Baltic, and 

 probably throughout Siberia, it is only a summer visitor. It passes 

 through Afghanistan on migration, and has accidentally occurred on 

 Greenland, the Bermudas, and Madeira. 



Few small birds differ more in size than the Sky-Lark, the length of 



