196 CLASS AVES. 



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around a browii ground, and those which are nearest have a 

 gray browm ground, the extremity being fawn-colour on the 

 border. The quills of the wing are broA\-n, their external 

 edge fawn, just tipped Avith white, and the last three or four 

 nearest the body, have a deeper shade, and their internal edge 

 is fawn. The upper half of the bill is blackish, and the 

 lower rather whitish. 



The male is a little browner than the female ; he has a sort 

 of black collar, and his hinder claw is longer. He is also 

 something more bulky, although the heaviest of the larks 

 rarely weighs above two ounces ; the stomach of these birds 

 is fleshy, and tolerably ample in proportion to the volume of 

 the body. 



Some individuals have more or less of reddish, and more or 

 less of the wing-quills edged with this colour. There are also 

 in this species certain individual varieties more strongly 

 decided : first, the white lark ; secondly, the black lark ; 

 and, thirdly, the Isabella lark, which last is not found so 

 frequently as the first. This tint may possibly be produced 

 by the age of the bird ; for all the species of Alauda exhibit 

 variations in the plumage as they grow older, and before they 

 become entirely white pass through this colour. M. Picot 

 la Peyrouse has observed many that were variegated with 

 isabella on their ordinary plumage, and others with isabella 

 and white. 



The common lark is the musician of the fields ; its delight- 

 ful song, like a hymn of joy, announces the approaching 

 spring, and accompanies the earliest blush of morning. It is 

 heard from the very commencement of those fine days which 

 succeed the cold and gloom of winter ; and its notes are the 

 first which strike upon the ear of the vigilant cultivator of 

 the ground. The matin - song of the lark was in ancient 

 Greece the signal for the reaper to commence his labours, 



