LARKS. 



425 



parts of Italy and in Greece, the calandra is common also in Turkey ; while many are 

 shot in winter, as they are large, plump birds, and much in request for eating. Mr. 

 G. F. Mathew states that " the male on commencing his song springs from the 

 ground, and with a graceful undulating motion describes a series of large circles 

 until he rises to an immense height ; his song is then clear and beautiful, but at 

 close quarters it is piercing and unpleasant. The call-note is loud and harsh, and 

 somewhat similar to that of the corn -bunting. With the Portuguese it is a 

 favourite cage-bird, and in many of the streets of Lisbon may be seen hanging 

 outside every door in cages. At Gibraltar it is frequent, and many are caught on 

 the neutral ground by bird-catchers who use clap-nets with decoy call-birds." The 

 calandra lark makes its nest in a depression of the ground, often at a depth of three 

 or four inches. The nest is a careless structure built of grass stems. The eggs are 

 dull grey in ground-colour, blotched with brown and pale amber, with underlying 

 markings of grey and light brown. The adult is greyish brown above, the 

 feathers having dark centres ; the under surface of the body is white tinged with 

 fulvous, and streaked finely with dark brown. The distinguishing character of this 

 species is a large patch of black adorning the sides of the neck. 



This species (M. yeltoniensis), which is figured on p. 423, inhabits 

 the steppes of Central Asia, migrating westward into Southern 

 Russia in the autumn and winter. After rearing their progeny, these larks congre- 

 gate, especially in August, and wander over the brackish places of the desert 

 throughout the whole autumn, especially in the region of the salt-lake Yelton. In 

 the middle of winter, when the snow covers the land, they approach the towns and 

 suburbs. 



In summer, when on the ground, the black lark emits a feeble piping, 

 generally singing from a hillock, but its song is not powerful. Its nest is 

 merely a slight hollow in the ground, lined with a few vegetable fibres, moss, and 

 dried grass. The female lays four eggs, bluish in colour, and spotted with yellow ; 

 these being deposited from the end of April till the end of Jul}'. In plumage, the 

 black lark varies at different seasons; in spring, the entire plumage of the male 

 being black, with the feathers of the back, rump, and breast, edged with light 

 sandy, but these markings become almost completely obsolete in the height of 

 summer. The general colour of the female is sandy brown, the lores and super- 

 ciliary stripe being whitish, the wings and tail dark brown, edged with sandy ; the 

 under surface of the body white tinged with buff; the upper part of the breast 

 mottled with brown ; and the flanks striated. 

 White-winged This Siberian lark (M. sibirica) has only once or twic<' wandered 



Lark. U1 | }0 Western Europe ; its home being in the steppes of Eastern 



Russia, whence it extends eastward as far as the Yenesei. It has once occurred in 

 Great Britain, a female having been captured near Brighton in ]<S(>9, whilst 

 consorting with a flock of snow-buntings ; and it has likewise been obtained in 

 Belgium and Western Germany. Arriving on its breeding-grounds in Russia in the 

 spring much later than the skylark, it affects grassy and open districts: ami when 

 singing, often soars aloft, but does not ascend so high as the skylark. It pairs about 

 the middle of May, and builds its nest of grass upon the ground. The eggs, four or 

 more in number, are greyish white, closely marked with dull brown. The adult male 



