188 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
“T kept one of these pretty little birds over a year in a cage; it had 
been momentarily stunned by a very light shot which had grazed the back 
of its head, but recovered very soon, and became extraordinarily tame. It 
underwent a complete moult in the autumn, managed to get safely through 
the winter, and sang heartily during the spring; but died, much to my regret, 
at the beginning of the summer. Its song was much more like that of a 
Bunting than a Sky-Lark. I fed it on Canary-seed, which, like a Lapland 
Bunting in a cage hanging by its side, it used to peel before consuming ; * 
a Shore-Lark on the other hand, which I had had for over ten years in a 
cage, never did this.” 
Family—ALAUDIDAE. 
THE WHITE-WINGED LARK. 
Melanocorypha sibirica, GMEL. 
HIS species is admitted into the British list in consequence of a female 
having been captured alive near Brighton on November 22nd, 1869, and 
exhibited by Mr. G. Dawson Rowley at a meeting of the Zoological Society 
held Jan. 27th, 1870. I quite agree with Seebohm that it ‘“‘has not the 
slightest claim to be considered a British bird.” It is a common Russian 
species; and, by anyone acquainted with the allied Mongolian Lark, is exceed- 
ingly likely to have been brought to England, and liberated when the discovery 
was made that (being a female) it had no song. Had it been a male it 
would probably never have been seen at large. The allied Calandra Lark, 
which is a well-known cage bird, has quite as much claim, in my opinion, to 
be regarded as British. 
* This should have been translated ‘husk’ (not peel).—A.G.B. 
