CHAPTER IV. 



THE PERCHING-BIRDS, continued. 



LARKS TO WAXWINGS. 

 Families ALAUDID^ to 



REPRESENTED by upwards of a hundred species, arranged under several generic 

 heads, the larks form a family which is almost entirely confined to the Old World in 

 its distribution ; some of the more highly-specialised forms being peculiar to desert- 

 regions, where they have become specially adapted to their environment both in 

 structure and in their protective coloration. The shape of the bill varies too much 

 in different genera to be of value as a diagnostic character ; but the feet are well 

 defined. Thus the metatarsus is scutellated, and blunt behind as in front ; that is to 

 say, it is covered with two series of plates behind and before, which meet on the inner 

 surface of the limb. Other characters are the very long straight claw of the first 

 toe, the long pointed wing, and the lengthened inner secondary wing-feathers. Save 

 for a notch in the upper one, the edges of both mandibles are perfectly smooth. 

 The birds of the genus Alauda are distinguished by having 

 the first of the ten primaries very small, while the second, third, 

 and fourth are nearly equal, although the third is somewhat the longest; the 

 secondaries are comparatively long; and the tail is moderate and slightly 

 forked. The bill is rather slender, long, arched, and slightly compressed, 

 with plumelets covering the nostrils. The skylarks, of which there are but 

 three species, are principally found in the temperate portions of Europe and 

 Siberia, although extending their range southwards into China and the plains 

 of India. The common skylark (A. arvensis) is one of the most abundant of 

 European birds, nesting in the British Isles, which are also visited by myriads 

 of this species from the Continent during the autumn and winter months. So 

 great is their abundance that they have become an extensive article of commerce ; 

 and on the Sussex Downs extraordinary numbers are netted to supply the poulterers. 

 Popular sentiment has never failed to recognise the exceeding beauty of the liquid 

 notes of the lark, its cheery carol far surpassing that of all other British birds save 

 the nightingale. Frequenting heaths and pasture lands, and generally most 

 abundant in open country, during the winter the skylark is a gregarious species ; 

 and on a sharp frosty morning many hundreds may be observed congregating in a 

 single field, flying restlessly hither and thither, with low warbling call-notes to 

 their companions. The salt-marshes bordering upon many parts of the British 

 coasts are well adapted to the habits of the skylark ; the birds generally placing 

 VOL. in. 27 



