PLECTEOPHENAX. — ALAUDA. 35 



numbers arrive in autumn from the arctic regions as Winter 

 Visitors and usually frequent tlie vicinity of the coast and the 

 hill-country. It is also a Bird of Passage en route to and from 

 its high northern snininer haunts and its winter retreats south 

 of our shores. 



General Distribution. — The Snovt^-Bunting breeds in tlie 

 arctic and sub-arctic regions of the Old and N^ew Worlds. 

 It wanders in winter as far south as the Medif.erriinean 

 and occasionally to the Canary Islands, Azores, and norti.ern 

 Africa ; also in Asia to Japan and north China, and in 

 America over the greater part of the United States, and 

 even, it is said, to the Andes of South America. 



Family ALAUDID^. 



Genus ALAUDA Linnmis, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 165. 

 Type : A. arvensis Linn. 



Alauda = the Sky-Lark, in Pliny N. H. xi. 44 ; said to be a Celtic word, 

 meaning " great songatresa " from al = high or great, and aucL = a song. Cf. 

 French alouette, Breton aV choueder. 



Alauda arvensis. Sky-Lark. 



Alauda arvensis Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 165 : 



Sweden. 



Alauda arvensis Linn.; S. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 71; 

 Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. xiii. 1890, p. 567; Saunders, 

 Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 249. 



Arvensis = of a field. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — Resident and widely 

 distributed in England, Scotland and Ireland, where many 

 individuals are only Summer Visitors, especially in the 

 northern and more elevated districts. A Winter Visitor and 

 Bird of Passage from northern and central Europe. 



General Distribution. — The typical race of the Sky-Lark 

 breeds in Europe with the exception of southern Italyi 

 south-eastern Europe, and the islands of the Mediterranean, 



d2 



