388 BRITISH BIRDS. 



very rare bird in Europe, and that it is only within the last half-century 

 that it has appeared in Lapland. Our knowledge of the ornithology of 

 Arctic Europe is so recent^ and even now so imperfectj that these state- 

 ments must be received with caution ; but there can be no doubt that it 

 has become much commoner of late years on migration on Heligoland, so 

 much so that an example now costs only as many pence as it formerly did 

 shillings. The Shore-Lark appears to belong to the class of gipsy migrants 

 who have no settled home in winter, and we should consequently expect 

 that as its breeding-range extended westwards its winter range would be 

 similarly affected. Of its habits in winter scarcely any thing is known. It 

 seems to be nowhere common. It collects into flocks after the moult, and 

 appears to lead a roving life, like the Snow-Bunting, feeding principally 

 on small seeds. In summer it varies its diet; for CoUett found the remains 

 of small beetles in the stomachs of both old and young ; and Ridgway 

 describes it as catching insects on the wing. It has also been known to 

 eat the buds of small plants and minute crustaceans on the sea-shore. 



The adult male Shore-Lark, in breeding-plumage, has the forehead and 

 a stripe over each eye, the chin, and upper throat, extending on to the sides 

 of the neck below the ear-coverts, dull yellow ; the fore part of the crown, 

 extending in an elongated tuft over each eye-stripe, the lores, extending 

 below the eye and across the fore part of the ear-coverts, and a band across 

 the lower throat and upper breast are black. The two patches of dull 

 yellow are partly connected together by the hind portion of the ear-coverts 

 (which are dull yellow with brown tips), and isolate the black moustachial 

 patch both from the black crown and the black throat. The general colour 

 of the upper parts is greyish brown, shading into pinkish brown on the 

 nape, lesser wing-coverts, and upper tail-coverts ; the feathers on the back 

 have obscure dark centres. The two centre tail-feathers are coloured like 

 the back ; the rest are nearly black, the two outermost on each side mar- 

 gined on the outer web with white. The rest of the underparts are nearly 

 white, shading into pinkish brown on the sides of the neck and flanks. 

 BiU, legs, feet, and claws black; irides dark brown. The female differs from 

 the male in having the black on the crown of less extent, and the whole of 

 the feathers of the upper parts with dark centres, those of the back being 

 more conspicuous than those on the back of the male. After the autumn 

 moult the feathers on the head and nape have yellow margins, which 

 obscure the black on the crown as well as the pinkish brown on the nape 

 of the male. Males of the year are indistinguishable in colour from adult 

 females in autumn plumage ; but females of the year, both in winter and 

 summer plumage, may be distinguished by the absence of the yellow on 

 the forehead and the black bases to the feathers of the crown. Birds in 

 flrst plumage bear little or no resemblance to their parents, being uniformly 

 spotted with dull yellow. 



