166 



SHORE LARK. 



are regularly seen during the whole winter. In the stomach of these 

 I have found, in numerous instances, quantities of the eggs or larvae of 

 certain insects, mixed with a kind of slimy earth. About the middle of 

 March they generally disappear, on their route to the north. Forster 

 informs us, that they visit the environs of Albany Fort, in the beginning 

 of May; but go farther north to breed; that they feed on grass seeds, 

 and buds of the sprig birch, and run into small holes, keeping close to 

 the ground; from whence the natives call them ehi-ciup-pi-sue* This 

 same species appears also to be found in Poland, Russia, and Siberia in 

 winter, from whence they also retire farther north on the approach of 

 spring ; except in the north-east parts, and near the high mountains.f 



The length of this bird is seven inches, the extent twelve inches ; the 

 forehead, throat, sides of the neck, and line over the eye is of a delicate 

 straw or Naples yellow, elegantly relieved by a bar of black, that passes 

 from the nostril to the eje; below which it falls, rounding, to the depth 

 of three-quarters of an inch ; the yellow on the forehead and over the 

 eye is bounded, within, for its whole length, with black, which covers 

 part of the crown ; the breast is ornamented with a broad fan-shaped 

 patch of black ; this as well as all the other spots of black are marked 

 with minute curves of yellow points ; back of the neck, and towards the 

 shoulders a light drab tinged with lake; lesser wing coverts bright 

 cinnamon; greater wing coverts the same, interiorly dusky, and 

 tipped with whitish ; back and wings drab-colored, tinged with reddish, 

 each feather of the former having a. streak of dusky black down its 

 centre ; primaries deep dusky, tipped and edged with whitish ; exterior 

 feathers most so ; secondaries broadly edged with light drab, and scol- 

 loped at the tips ; tail forked, black ; the two middle feathers, which by 

 some have been mistaken for the coverts, are reddish drab, centred with 

 brownish black ; the two outer ones on each side exteriorly edged with 

 white ; breast of a dusky vinous tinge, and marked with spots or streaks 

 of the same ; the belly and vent Tvhite ; sides streaked with bay ; bill 

 short (Latham, in mistake, says seven inchesj), of a dusky blue color ; 

 tongue truncate and bifid ; legs and claws black ; hind heel very long 

 and almost straight ; iris of the eye hazel. One glance at the figure on 

 the plate will give a better idea than the whole of this minute descrip- 

 tion, which, however, has been rendered necessary by the errors of 

 others. The female has little or no black on the crown ; and the yellow 

 on the front is narrow, and of a dirty tinge. 



There is a singular appearance in this bird which I have never seen 

 taken notice of by former writers, viz., certain long black feathers, 

 which extend, by equal distances beyond each other, above the eye- 



* PhJl. Trans, vol. lxii. p. 398. t Arot. Zool. J Syn. vol. ii., p. 385. 



