THE SHORT-TOED LARK. 185 
Vol. II, p. 466) “feeds on various insects, chiefly grasshoppers, and in default 
of this food, on grain and seeds.” This supports the statement made by 
Seebohm :—“The food of the Crested Lark does not differ from that of its 
congeners. In the spring and summer it is chiefly composed of insects and 
larve, and in the autumn and winter of various small seeds and grain.” It 
is exactly what one would expect. In captivity it should have soft food, 
seeds (Canary and millet) also insects, mealworms, etc. 
Family—ALA UDIDA. 
THE SHORT-ToED Lark. 
Calandrella brachydactyla, LEISL. 
OWARD SAUNDERS admits that this species has ‘(been justifiably 
placed in the genus Ca/andrella, characterized by the absence of crest, 
a stout conical bill, straight and short hind-toe, and infinitesimal bastard 
primary.” I therefore see no advantage in continuing to call it A/auda. 
Inhabits Southern Europe in summer and is resident in Spain and Port- 
ugal, as well as the Canaries and North-west Africa; in winter it occurs in 
North-east Africa and southwards as far as Abyssinia; eastwards it breeds in 
Persia, Turkestan, and North-west India. 
To Great Britain the Short-toed Lark is a rare straggler, about nine 
authenticated instances of its occurrence having been recorded, six of them in 
autumn, one in April, and one in July: of these one was obtained on the 
Scilly Islands, one in Hampshire, four in Sussex, one in Cambridge, and one 
in Shropshire: in 1890 one caught near Portsmouth was exhibited at the 
Crystal Palace. a 
The general colouring of the male in breeding-plumage is pale rufous or 
