THE SHORE LARK. 



857 



The Pencilled Lark is a very rare bird, and has comparatively recently been introduced to 

 science. It is found in Persia, especially about Erzeroum, and is worthy of notice on account 

 of the greatly developed pencils of dark feathers from which it derives its name. It is a 

 prettily, though not brightly, colored bird. TI13 upper part of the body is darkish ash, the 

 wings and quill-feathers being of a brownish cast, with the exception of the external primaries, 



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PENCILLED LARK.— Otoanis pencUlatus. 



which are white. The forehead, the chin, ear-coverts, breast, and abdomen are white, and 

 the two projecting pencils are jetty black. The top of the head and the nape of the neck are 

 also ashen, but with a purple wash. The tail is dark brown, with the exception of the two 

 central feathers, which are dusky gray. 



A closely allied species is the Shore-lark, a bird which has occasionally been seen, and 

 of course killed, in England, although its ordinary dwelling-place is in North America. Of 

 this bird, Wilson speaks as follows : — 



"It is one of our winter birds of passage, arriving from the north in the fall ; usually 

 staying with us the whole winter, frequenting sandy plains and open downs, and is numerous 

 in the Southern States, as far as Georgia, during that season. They fly high in loose, scat- 

 tered flocks, and at these times have a singular cry, almost exactly like the sky-lark of Britain. 



' ' They are very numerous in many tracts of New Jersey, and are frequently brought to 

 Philadelphia market. They are then generally very fat, and are considered excellent eating. 

 Their food seems principally to consist of small round compressed seeds, buckwheat, oats, 

 etc., with a large proportion of gravel. On the flat commons, within the boundaries of the 

 city of Philadelphia, flocks of them are regularly seen during the whole winter. In the 

 stomachs of them I have found, in numerous instances, quantities of the eggs or larvse of cer- 

 tain insects, mixed with a kind of slimy earth. About the middle of March they generally 

 disappear, on their route to the north." 



Forster informs us that they visit the environs of Albany first in the beginning of May, 

 but go farther north to breed ; that they feed on grass seeds and buds of the spring birch, 

 and run into small holes, keeping close to the ground ; from whence the natives call them 



