62 THE SHORE-LARK. 



June, and rears two broods. In Siberia the eggs 

 are laid in the middle of June, and only one 

 brood is raised, as the summer is too short to 

 allow of a second one being brought up. 

 "The nest," writes Mr. Seebohm, "is always 

 built on the ground, generally in some slight 

 hollow. I found one in Finmark in the middle of 

 a mountain-path, in the hollow formed by the 

 foot of a horse in the soft mud, which the sun 

 had afterwards hardened. Others were amongst 

 stones on the bare ground, and one under the 

 shelter of some rushes in the grass. The nest is 

 loosely made of dry grass and stalks, and the 

 inside, which is rather deep, is lined with willow- 

 down or reindeer-hair. Four is the usual 

 number of eggs; but very often only three are 

 laid, and sometimes as many as five. They may 

 be said to be characteristic Lark's eggs, and only 

 differ from those of the Sky-Lark by their more 

 olive-shade of colour." 



Mr. Seebohm further gives the following 

 characteristic account of his experiences of the 

 species in its northern home : — " The Shore-Lark 

 is as much a bird of the tundra as the Snow- 

 Bunting and the Lapland Bunting, but it breeds 



