296 



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common in Algeria, especially in bushy localities ; and Mr. O. Salvin records it as " abundant on 

 all the plains both in Tunis and the Salt-Lake country. In the latter districts we found it 

 breeding in the month of May ; but some eggs were obtained in April. Though the plains 

 appear to be most frequented, it was by no means an unusual occurrence to find the Crested 

 Lark in the mountains and rocky passes, it in this respect differing from A. calandra and brachy- 

 dactyla, both of which we found exclusively in the level country." In Morocco, Major Irby 

 writes, it is " resident, and found in great numbers ; many go south in winter. It is the tamest 

 of all birds, and one of the most common. They begin to lay about the 20th of April ; and I 

 have seen the nest between the mule-tracks of the much-frequented roads between Fez and 

 Tangier in a tuft of grass, so close to the track that every animal passing along must have 

 almost touched the nest ; near Gibraltar they are always to be seen on the beach, running about 

 within a few inches of the waves." 



It has not been recorded from the Cape-Verd Islands. 



To the eastward the Crested Lark extends through Persia into India and China, but was not 

 met with in Siberia by any of the Russian travellers. De Filippi records it as abundant in 

 Persia ; and Mr. Blanford brought back a .large series from Persia and Baluchistan, which he has 

 kindly lent to me for examination, and which agree with European specimens, both as regards 

 plumage and measurements, though, like these, the specimens differ a good deal inter se. 

 Mr. A. O. Hume records the Crested Lark as " excessively abundant throughout Sindh, as it 

 is indeed throughout Rajpootana, the Punjab, Oudh, and the North-west Provinces;" and 

 Dr. Jerdon writes that it is " found throughout all India, most abundant in the north and 

 north-west. It is rare in the Carnatic, not found in Malabar, more common in the Deccan, and 

 thence spreading from Behar in the east to Sindh and the Punjab, where it is very common. It 

 is not known in Bengal, nor in the Himalayas, nor in the countries to the eastwards. It prefers 

 dry, open, sandy plains, or ploughed land, to grass, wet meadows, or cultivation." Mr. Swinhoe 

 met with it in China, where, he states, it is " common about the hills round the cultivated valleys 

 of Talien Bay, North China, and the Pekin valleys." Pere David also met with it in Mongolia. 



In its habits the Crested Lark is confiding and fearless, and in the neighbourhood of villages 

 and inhabited places is one of the most unsuspicious and tame birds. When in Southern 

 Germany and Hungary, where it is very common, I observed it on almost all the high roads, and 

 in the streets of the small towns and villages, pecking about amongst the horse-droppings almost 

 as tamely as a London Sparrow. They appear very fond of inhabited places and frequented 

 high roads, seldom being found very far from these, and when disturbed by a passing vehicle 

 will either run on one side and let it pass, or fly on a short distance ahead, again and again, as 

 the traveller approaches them. In different parts of Europe they are resident or migratory, 

 according as the locality is suitable or not for winter quarters ; but in most parts they are 

 partial migrants, merely shifting their quarters according to season. In Germany, Naumann 

 writes, " they leave their northern haunts in the winter, which they spend in smaller or larger 

 companies in milder climates. Many winter on the Main and Rhine and in Franconia and 

 Thuringia, arriving there in October and November, and disappearing at the first commencement 

 of spring. Here in Northern Germany these Larks are resident or partially migratory, these 

 latter rambling in pairs or small companies from place to place, and arriving in winter where 



