2°64 BIRDS. 
FAMILY Il. 
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CONIROSTRES. 
Tue Conirostres comprehend genera with a strong bill, more or less 
conical, and unemarginate; the stronger and thicker their bill, the more 
exclusively is grain their food. The first genus to be distinguished is, 
Auaupa, Lin. 
The Larks are known by the nail of their thumb, which is straight, 
strong, and much longer than the others*. They are granivorous birds, 
and pulverators. They build on the ground, and generally keep there. 
The bill of the greater number is straight, moderately stout and 
pointed. 
Al. arvensis ; Alouette des champs, Enl. 368, 1; Naum. 100, 1. 
(The Sky Lark). Universally known by its perpendicular mode of 
soaring, accompanied by its varied and powerful song, and by the 
abundance with which it is procured for our tables. It is brown 
above; whitish underneath; spotted throughout, with a deeper 
shade of brown; the two external quills of the tail white outside. 
Al. cristata; Le Cochevis, Enl. 503, 1; Naum. 99, 1. (The 
Crested Lark). Nearly the same size and plumage; but it has the 
power of erecting the feathers on its head into a tuft; not socommon 
as the preceding, and frequents the vicinity of villages and copses. 
Al. arborea; Al. nemorosa; Cujelier; Enl. 503, 2; Naum. 
100, 2. (The Wood Lark). Has a small, but not so strongly mark- 
ed tuft; it is smaller, and is otherwise distinguished by a whitish 
streak round the head, and a white line on the little coverts, it prefers 
the heaths in the interior of the forests}. We sometimes see in Europe, 
Al. alpestris, Al. flava, and Al. sibirica, Gm.; Alouette a hausse- 
col noir, Enl. 652, 2; Naum. 99, 2, 3; Wils. I. v. 4. From Si- 
beria and North America; forehead, cheeks, and throat, yellow, 
with black streaks; a large, black, transverse spot on the top of the 
breast; a small pointed tuft behind each ear of the male. 
Some of them have so stout a bill, that, with respect to it, we might 
approximate them to the Sparrows. Such are 
Al. calandra; La Calandre; Enl. 368, 2; Naum. 98,1. The 
largest of the European species; brown above; white beneath; a 
* This character is more or less marked in Bupyres, ALAUDA, ANTHUs, of 
which we have already spoken, and in the Emberiza nivalis, which we have yet to 
mention. 
+ Add, of European species, the Girole (Al. italica);—the Coquillade (Al. undata), 
Enl. 662; the Short-toed Lark, Al. brachydactyla, Naum. 98, 2. Species foreign to 
Europe, the Bateleuse, Vaill. Afr. 194;—the Dos roux, Id. 197;—the Calotte rousse, 
Td. 198. 
N. B. The 41. magna, Catesb. I, 33, is merely the Sturnus ludovicianus, 
