RARER BRITISH BIRDS. 



15 



SHORE LARK. 



Alauda Alpestris. LINN^US. 



THE title of this bird to be admitted into our indigenous 

 lists, rests upon a notice by William Yarrell, Esq. (which will 

 be found in the fourth volume of " London's Magazine," page 

 116,) of a specimen, killed on the beach near Sherringham, in 

 March 1830, which passed into the hands of Mr. Sims, of 

 Norwich, by whom it w r as preserved ; and it is now in the 

 collection of Edward Lombe, Esq. of Great Milton. 



This bird inhabits the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and 

 America. An account of it is given in " Pennant's Arctic 

 Zoology ;" in "The Fauna Boreali Americana," by Messrs. Ri- 

 chardson and Swainson, under the name of A. Cornuta ; and 

 in " Wilson's American Ornithology." It breeds far north, and 

 is found in the United States, during the winter, in considerable 

 abundance. 



The male Shore Lark has the upper parts of the head, 

 neck, and lesser wing coverts, purplish brown ; upper tail 



