LARKS. 



423 



the summer months, frequenting the wildest parts of the island, where its song is 

 frequently uttered, as the male thus encourages his mate in the duties of incuba- 

 tion. Its range extends eastwards to Turkestan, and in winter it visits Upper 

 India. Its mode of ascending in the air differs from that of the skylark, consisting 

 of a succession of jerks. The short-toed lark is caught in considerable numbers by 

 the French bird-catchers, to judge from the frequency with which we have found 

 the species for sale in the Paris bird-shops. Its food seems to consist almost 

 exclusively of small seeds, the husk of which it has the faculty of breaking 



BLACK LARK, WHITE-WINGED LARK, AND SHORT-TOED LARK (^ nat. size) 



in its bill ; but we may presume that insects of some sort are supplied to the 

 young. On the ground this lark runs quickly, and it is especially fond of 

 grovelling in sand. When at large, it never perches on shrubs or bushes, though 

 in confinement, like the skylark, it will readily take to a perch. The cock has 

 a lively song, given on the wing both in the morning and evening, but seldom 

 in the middle of the day. The nest is formed of a few bits of grass collected in a 

 depression of the ground, often a horse's footprint ; and the eggs, four or five in 

 number, are of a French white, generally minutely freckled with pale hair-brown. 

 The adult has the upper-parts sandy grey, the feathers having dark centres ; the 

 wings and tail are blackish brown, some of the feathers being margined with buff; 



