SHORE LARK. 573 



madrigal, then performs a few irregular evolutions, and returns to the 

 ground. There also it sings, but less frequently, and with less fulness. 

 Its call-note is quite mellow, and altered at times in a ventriloqual man- 

 ner, so different, as to seem like that of another species. As soon as the 

 young are hatched, the whole are comparatively mute, merely using the 

 call-note. Only one brood is reared each season. 



The food of the Shore Lark consists of grass-seeds, the blossoms of 

 dwarf plants, and insects. It is an expert catcher of flies, following insects 

 on wing to a considerable distance, and now and then betaking itself to the 

 sea-shore to search for minute shell-fish or Crustacea. It associates with 

 the Brown Lark (Jnthus Sphioletta), which indeed breeds in the same 

 places. As I found the nest of the latter in Labrador, for the first time 

 in my life, I will here describe it. It is always, I believe, placed next to 

 the foot of a rock, in a tuft of grass, and is entirely composed of fine 

 bent grass, neatly lined with delicate fibrous roots, without any feathers. 

 The eggs, usually four, are small, and of a very dark uniform chocolate 

 colour. 



The Shore Larks reach the United States at the approach of winter. 

 When the weather is severe in the north, they are seen in Massachu- 

 setts as early as October. Many spend the winter there, in the vicinity 

 of the sea shore and sandy fields ; others retire farther south, but seldom 

 proceed beyond Maryland on the Atlantic, or the lower parts of Kentucky, 

 west of the Alleghany mountains. My friend Bachman never saw one 

 near Charleston, and only one have I seen in Louisiana, where the poor 

 thing appeared quite lost, and so fatigued, that I caught it. I am, there- 

 fore, scarcely disposed to believe that this species was ever found on the 

 table land of Mexico, as asserted by Mr Bullock. 



At this season they fly in their usual loose manner, over the fields and 

 open grounds, in search of food, which now consists of seeds, and the dor- 

 mant larvae of insects, mixing with the Brown Lark, and now and 

 then with the Cow Bunting and others. They become plump and fat, 

 and afford delicious food, for which reason our eastern markets are sup- 

 plied with them. Although they at times alight on fences, I never saw 

 one on a tree. The ground, indeed, is their proper place ; there they re- 

 pose, near tufts of dry grass, in small groups, until the return of day, 

 when they run about in a straggling manner. If affrighted, the whole 

 take to wing, perform a few evolutions, and alight on the same ground 

 again. 



