286 BRITISH BIRDS. 



except in being slightly smaller in size, and possibly somewhat richer in 

 colour *. 



The Shore-Lark is as much a bird of the tundra as the Snow-Bunting 

 and the Lapland Bun ting; but it breeds at a lower latitude than the former 

 species, and though almost as abundant as the latter, is more local. It 

 avoids the marshy districts and confines itself to dry sandy plains or rocky 

 hills, though it comes down to the mud-shores of the rivers to drink. It 

 is one of the earliest of the small birds to arrive at its breeding- grounds. 

 The Snow-Bunting and the Mealy Redpole arrive first, and may be seen 

 running about on the snow some weeks before the ice breaks up; but as 

 soon as the thaw begins in earnest a batch of small birds arrive, amongst 

 which is sure to be the Shore-Lark. In lat. 66, in the valley of the 

 Petchora, we saw the first on the 10th of May ; but in lat. 66, in the 

 valley of the Yenesay, I did not see this bird until the 2nd of June. They 

 afterwards passed through both stations in great numbers. 



The Shore-Larks seem to be entirely gronnd-birds. On the banks of 

 the Petchora I have seen both the Common Gull and the Common Snipe 

 perched in trees, and in the valley of the Yenesay I have shot a Golden 

 Plover from the summit of a larch ; but I have never seen the Shore-Lark 

 perch in a tree or even on a bush. It seems to be even more exclusively a 

 ground-bird than the Sky-Lark. It runs along the sand with the greatest 

 ease; but when watching a flock of Lapland Buntings and Shore-Larks 

 feeding on an oasis of grass in the snow, I noted down that both species 

 occasionally advanced a few steps by a series of hops, and that the Shore- 

 Lark did so more than the Lapland Bunting. During migration the Shore- 

 Lark is a gregarious bird, and though the first flocks consisted of Shore- 



* Dresser, in his ' Birds of Europe,' has so confused the synonymy of the Asiatic species 

 and races of Shore-Larks that I have had some considerable difficulty in disentangling 

 the skein ; but with the assistance of Scully's admirable paper on the Birds of Gilgit 

 (Ibis, 1881, p. 581), I have unravelled the puzzle as follows : 



THE WEST-ASIATIC SHORE-LARK. 

 Alauda penicillata, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 126. 



Phileremos scriba, Gould, Jide Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Atner. p. 37 (1838). 

 Alauda albigula, Brandt, Jide Bonap. Consp. i. p. 246 (1850). 

 Otocoris albigula (Brandt), Bonap, Consp. i. p. 246 (1850). 

 Otocoris larvata, De Filippi, Arch, per la Zool. ii. fasc. 2, p. 381 (1863). 



THE EAST-ASIATIC SHORE-LARK. 



Otocoris longirostris, Gould, Jide Moore, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855, p. 215. 

 Otocorys sibirica, Eversmann,jide Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, p. 390. 

 Otocorys elwesii, Blanf. Journ. As. Soc. Beng. 1872, p. 62. 

 Otocorys brandti, Dresser, B. Eur. iv. p. 401 (1874). 

 Otocorys parvexi, Taczan. Bull. Soc. Zool. France, 1876, p. 161. 

 Otocoris nigrifrons, Prjevalsky, Mongolia and Thibet, ii. p. 103 (18/6). 

 Otocoris albigula, auctorum nee Brandt, 



