ALAUDA. 355 



or hair. Their eggs are from three or four to six in numher, and vary in 

 ground-colour from white to pale bluish green, more or less thickly 

 mottled and speckled with brown of different shades, and with underlying 

 markings of violet-grey. 



The species of the genus Alauda may be subdivided into three groups, 

 differing in size and pattern of colour. The true Alaudm, or Sky-Larks, have 

 the general colour of the upper parts brown of some shade, each feather, 

 including the wiag-coverts and innermost secondaries, having a dark 

 centre ; and the underparts are nearly white, streaked only on the breast, 

 and sometimes on the flanks. The Melanocoryphm, or Steppe-Larks, are 

 distinguished by their large size and thick bills, and vary in pattern of 

 colour, some differing but little in this respect from the Sky-Larks, but 

 others having many of the secondaries pure white. Most of them have 

 more or less black on the breast, and the adult male of one species is 

 almost a uniform black. The Otocoridse, or Shore-Larks, are more dis- 

 tinct, having always black breasts, and in the adult males a black patch 

 across each ear-covert, and another on the crown, ending on each side 

 in elongated tufts or horns. With the exceptions already mentioned in 

 the Melanocoryphae, the wing-feathers in this genus are brown, with 

 pale edges ; the two centre tail-feathers are coloured like the back, the 

 next four on each side are dark brown, but the colour of the two outside 

 feathers is variable. 



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