374 



secondaries brownish black, except at the base of the inner web, where they are white ; tail brownish 

 black, slightly edged with light brown, external feather pure white, second with the outer web white ; 

 underparts white ; flanks slightly washed with rufous ; upper parts of the breast marked with small but 

 distinct triangular brown spots ; tibia rufous ; beak brownish horn ; legs yellowish brown ; iris brown. 

 Total length 7i inches, oilmen - 6, wing 4"7, tail 2 - 9, tarsus 1/0. 



Female (Volga, April) . Generally resembles the male, but much duller in colour ; crown pale rufous, each 

 feather with a dark centre ; under surface of the body dull white, not so pure in colour as in the male. 



Nestling (Volga, July). In plumage much resembling the nestling of the common Sky-Lark [Al. arvensis), 

 but much larger in size, and having a stouter bill ; the breast is also less spotted, the spots being larger 

 and less clearly defined ; and the feathers on the upper parts are tipped with pure white. 



This handsome Lark is found in South-eastern Europe eastward to the Jenesei, and occasionally 

 wanders into Central and even Western Europe, having been met with in Great Britain. Mr. G. 

 Dawson Rowley, of Brighton, exhibited a specimen at a meeting of the Zoological Society in 

 1870 (P. Z. S. 1870, p. 52), which he stated "was caught near Brighton, November 22nd, 1869, 

 out of a flock of about two dozen of Emberiza nivalis, and is a female. This is, as far as I know, 

 the first of this species ever captured in Great Britain." This specimen I then had the pleasure 

 of examining, and was enabled to convince myself of its being the present species. It was 

 recorded from Germany as far back as 1795, when Bechstein wrote (I. c.) that he " caught seven 

 in March 1789, in company with a lot of Wood-Larks, during severe snow weather, under a 

 sieve before my door. No others were observed, although hundreds of Larks were caught or 

 died of cold." It has likewise been obtained in Belgium, as recorded by Mr. C. F. Dubois 

 (J. f. O. 1856, p, 505), who states that one was caught near Liege in October 1855 ; and another 

 was shot the same month in 1856, near Mechlin. 



It is said by Count Casimir Wodzicki to be not uncommon in Poland and Galicia ; and in 

 Eastern Russia it is, by the various authors on Russian ornithology, said to be comparatively 

 common. Mr. Sabanaeff informs me that, " according to Bogdanoff, it is common in the black- 

 earth steppes in the Zarizin and Kameshinsk districts, occurring as far as Saratoff ; Eversmann 

 met with it in the steppes between the Southern Volga and the Ural, and throughout the 

 Kirghis steppes." This latter author further writes (J. f. O. 1853, p. 283), that "its range 

 extends northward to Orenburg, and it is abundant in the neighbourhood of Ilezk." In Southern 

 Russia it is stated by Professor von Nordmann (Demidoff, Voy. Russ. Merid. iii. p. 170) to be 

 " one of the rarest of our Larks, and has hitherto only been observed in the southern portion of 

 the Government of Ekaterinoslaf. I have never seen it alive. Pallas states that it is common on 

 the steppes of the Om and in the Altai country." I have a specimen from the Crimea; and in 

 Turkey, Mr. Robson states, it occurs during severe winters; and, judging from the number of 

 specimens he has sent, it cannot be very rare. 



To the eastward it is found as far as the Jenesei, beyond which, Dr. Radde writes, it does 

 not occur; he met with it in flocks in the Baraba steppe in May 1865. 



But little appears to have been recorded respecting the habits of this Lark. Mr. Sabanaeff 

 informs me that " it affects grassy and open districts, and when singing often soars aloft like the 

 Sky-Lark (Alauda arvensis), but does not ascend so high, and soon returns to the earth again. 



