98 Order I. Passeres 



The Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) has very rarely 

 occurred in Britain, though not uncommon across the 

 Channel in Normandy, while it has an extensive range 

 abroad, which cannot be denned in our limited space, 

 owing to the numerous races for which different 

 scientific names have been proposed. The habits, 

 nest and eggs are more similar to those of the Wood-lark 

 than of the Skylark, but the bird itself is more like the 

 Skylark, though it has a much longer crest, rufous 

 colouring under the wing, and no white on the tail. 



The Shore-lark (Otocorys alpestris), a pretty brown 

 bird with black and yellow head, black chest, white 

 belly, and, in the male, a tuft of black feathers on each 

 side of the head, must now be included in our more 

 or less regular winter visitors, though formerly it was 

 hardly known in Britain. It comes in larger or smaller 

 flocks, chiefly to our eastern shores, but seldom pene- 

 trates inland. This bird has been divided into an 

 immense quantity of species or subspecies, from northern 

 Europe, Asia and Africa, North America and even the 

 Andes. Our race breeds in the far north, the warmly 

 lined nest with its brown-spotted eggs being often 

 built in rather stony ground near the shore or on hill- 

 slopes. The song, flight, and food are comparable to 

 those of the Skylark. 



ORDER II. PICARL33 



This order includes the following seven families, 

 which are grouped together on anatomical grounds, as 

 in the case of the Passeres. But, whereas the latter 

 are closely linked together by their general appearance 

 and their powers of song, the Picarians, apart from 



