322 



Male adult, spring. Above brown, each feather with a central stripe of blackish brown, and edged with 

 rufous ; feathers of the head striped down the centre with dark brown and edged with rufous, forming 

 a short, full crest ; a light spot behind each nostril and a broad yellowish- white stripe from the back 

 of each eye to the nape, where they form an irregular and indistinct collar ; rump- and upper tail- 

 coverts greyish brown ; tail dark brown, the two central feathers much lighter in colour, and broadly 

 edged with light brown, the outer feather on each side dirty white towards the tip, and having the outer 

 web bordered with white, the next feather on each side with a large white spot at the tip, and the next 

 with a similar smaller one ; quills dark brown, narrowly edged on the outer web with white ; secondaries 

 tipped and edged with dull rufous ; primary coverts blackish brown, tipped with light buff; lesser 

 coverts the same as the back, but lighter, and having the entire centre dark ; lores grey ; ear-coverts 

 rufous, edged with dark brown, the feathers on the side of the neck bordering the auriculars being dirty 

 white; underparts dull yellowish-white; sides of chin, throat, and breast profusely spotted with dark 

 brown ; flanks indistinctly striped ; under tail-coverts white, buff at the base of the feathers ; under wing- 

 coverts white, the lowest ones ashy ; beak dark brown ; under mandible pale flesh-coloured ; legs pale 

 flesh-brown ; iris dark brown. Total length 5"5 inches, culmen 045, wing 3'9, tarsus 0'8, hind toe, with 

 claw, 0-85, hind claw 0'4. 



Male, autumn. Upper parts more fulvous., the rufescent edgings to the feathers being much broader ; under- 

 parts tinged with buff, the pectoral stripes being rather more obscured, and tinged with rufous. 



Female. Similar in plumage to the male. 



Young. Above generally darker than the adult, each feather being very dark brown in the centre, and 

 narrowly edged with pale yellowish-buff; primaries similarly margined, the secondaries with a double 

 margin of black and fulvous, and having a gloss of metallic purple ; underparts clear white ; pectoral 

 markings smaller than in the adult; the band round the head, cheeks, and sides of the head clear 

 white. 



The present species is generally distributed throughout Central and Southern Europe, rarely 

 penetrating far north, and ranging to the east to the Ural, or at least but very rarely occurring 

 beyond that range of mountains. With us in England it is a local species, occurring in some 

 parts and not observed in others, but everywhere rather rare than otherwise. 



According to Yarrell, it inhabits Sussex, Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, Devonshire, 

 and a few occur in Cornwall ; it is also found in Wales. North of London it is found in Suffolk, 

 Norfolk, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Lancashire ; in Norfolk Mr. Stevenson finds it 

 by no means numerous, and now confined almost entirely to the western parts of the county. As 

 regards its range in Scotland, Mr. Kobert Gray refers to instances on record of its having occurred 

 in Forfarshire, Ayrshire, Dumbartonshire, Caithness, Banffshire, and Aberdeenshire, and even as 

 far north as Orkney, a specimen having been shot in Mr. Dunn's garden, at Stromness, on the 

 20th of February, 1844. In Ireland it is resident, but very local ; Thompson states that it is 

 found in the counties of Down and Antrim, in well cultivated and wooded parts. During the 

 breeding-season it is to be met with, according to Mr. More (Ibis, 1865, p. 124), "chiefly in the 

 south of England, and is apparently rare or wanting in some of the eastern counties. It nests 

 only occasionally in Essex, and is not included in either of the lists which I have received from 

 Lincolnshire, though the county is mentioned by Yarrell." Respecting its nidification in Scotland 

 we are indebted to our friend Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown for the following note : — " That Alauda 



