CRESTED LARK. 19 



brown; back, brown, the shaft and centre of each feather 

 dark brown. The second quill feather of the wing is the 

 longest; greater and lesser wing coverts, brown, the shaft and 

 centre of each feather darker, and the edges buff white; 

 tertiaries, edged with buff white. The tail has the two middle 

 feathers nearly uniform light brown, the outer one on each 

 side light brown, with a buff white margin on the outside, 

 the rest of the feathers dark brown; legs, toes, and claws, 

 pale brown. 



The female is rather less in size than the male, and the 

 crest is less conspicuous. 



This bird, or rather one should say a bird by this name, 

 as it seems doubtful whether our older writers knew it at all, 

 has been made by some of them into two species, by the 

 names of the Greater and the Lesser Crested Lark, the latter 

 being the female, or the young, of their supposed Crested 

 Lark. 



I do not read of any varieties of this bird as assuming 

 the 'drapeau blanc.' 



