280 BRITISH BIRDS, 



west as Stavrapol in North Caucasia ; whilst Hencke describes it as very 

 common on the Kirgiz steppes north of Astrakan. In severe winters it 

 occasionally strays into South-west Russia^ and even as far as Constan- 

 tinople. Finsch met with it in the Barabinska steppes and eastwards up 

 to the Altai MountainSj beyond which it has not been found. In Western 

 Siberia it has occurred as far north as Omsk. In Siberia it is a migratory 

 bird, wintering in Turkestan. 



When Pallas first discovered this fine Lark on the banks of the Irtish 

 he thought it was merely a variety of the Calandra Lark, and described it 

 as such ; but Gmelin, recognizing its specific distinctness, named it Alauda 

 sibirica. Pallas afterwards renamed it A. leucoptera when he wrote his book 

 on the zoology of Asiatic Russia, and gave some particulars of its habits 

 and its distribution. Since the days of Pallas but little has been added to 

 the natural history of the White-winged Lark. He states that, like the 

 Calandra Lark, it frequents the roadsides and that its song is shorter than 

 that of the Sky-Lark and is uttered as the bird is hanging in the air, but 

 that it does not often rise so high as that bird. SabanaefF states that it 

 frequents the grassy and open districts. It appears not to be very shy, 

 and often allows the observer to approach it quite closely. In the early 

 part of the breeding-season it is incessantly soaring into the air for a short 

 distance on fluttering wings, very gracefully warbling its short song, then 

 returning to the ground. 



Professor Slovzow says that the White-winged Lark first arrived at Omsk 

 on the 16th of May ; but Finsch, on his journey south from that town to 

 Semipalatinsk, met with it in the last week of April. He also saw it in 

 large flocks on the Barabinska steppes. The birds were very tame, and 

 looked most picturesque as they wheeled and curved in graceful flight. 

 He describes the song as very like that of the Sky-Lark. 



The breeding-season of the White-winged Lark is said sometimes to 

 commence as early as the end of April, but sometimes not until the middle 

 of May, according to the state of the season. The nest is built in a little 

 cavity on the ground under a tuft of herbage or beneath a little bush, and 

 is said to be made of grass. The eggs are four or five in number, and 

 apparently do not difl'er much. Specimens in my collection from the 

 Volga are yellowish white in ground-colour, spotted with a light and dark 

 shade of almost neutral brown and with numerous underlying markings of 

 violet-grey. The spots are large and almost evenly distributed over the 

 entire surface; but some specimens have most of the markings round 

 the large end, many of them being confluent. They vary in length 

 from '96 to '86 inch, and in breadth from "69 to "61 inch. The eggs of 

 the White-winged Lark, although they resemble those of the Sky-Lark 

 very closely in size and colour, are, however, easily distinguished ; they 



