( 448 ) 



SHORE LARK 



Alauda alpestris, Linn. 



PLATE CC. Vol. II. p. 570. 



" Eaely in November," as my friend Dr T. M. Brewer informs 

 me, " the Shore Lark makes its appearance in Massachusetts, and con- 

 tinues there in large flocks of immature birds through the whole of the 

 winter, and until March. They fly in small flocks, usually of less than 

 twenty, frequenting for the greater part the salt-marshes along the 

 coast. They sufifer greatly from the depredations made upon them by 

 Hawks of various kinds, especially the 

 Rough-legged Falcon, the Red-shouldered 

 Hawk, and the Marsh Hawk." " On 

 June 10." says Mr Nuttall, " on the 

 plains by the banks of the sweet water of 

 the Platte, we started the Shore Lark 

 from her nest in a small depression on the 

 ground. It was made of bent grass, lined 

 with coarse bison hair. The eggs were 

 olive- white, minutely spotted all over with 

 a darker tinge." 



In a male preserved in spirits, the roof 

 of the mouth is slightly concave, its an- 

 terior part with a median and two slight 

 lateral prominent lines ; its width 4^ 

 twelfths. The tongue is 8^ twelfths long, 

 emarginate and papillate at the base, with 

 a large papilla at each side, narrow, con- 

 cave above, tapering, with the point abrupt 

 and emarginate. The oesophagus, a be, is 3 

 inches long, its greatest width 4^ twelfths, 

 narrowed to 3 twelfths on entering the 

 thorax ; the proventricidus, be, 4: twelfths. 

 The stomach, c?^, is an exceedingly large 

 muscular gizzard, of a transversely elliptical 



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