CALANDKA LAllK. 
197 
tlieir song, it is impossible for amateurs to keep them 
in their homes, their voice is too loud. When taken 
young they may he taught to imitate the voices of all 
kinds of birds. They often mix together the notes of 
Thrushes, Finches, Tits, Quails, Linnets, etc., and will 
even imitate the croakint^ of the frogf.” t 
Captain Blakiston, in his description of the Birds 
found by him in the Crimea, (“Zoologist,” 1857, p. 5509,) 
gives an amusing account of his first meeting with this 
bird, which will bear quoting: — 
“I ask any naturalist, is there any pleasure in observ- 
ing a new species for the first time? Surely you have 
a peculiar feeling within you; you eagerly wish for a 
specimen; and I will answer for it that you do not 
rest till you have obtained one. Suppose that you are 
a field ornithologist, you take the first opportunity, and 
although the weather is cold and windy, with snow 
covering the ground, you trudge off with your fowling- 
piece to where you observed the birds. I did this on 
the 2nd. of January, and found the bird I was in search 
of on the Karani hill, within sight of Sebastopol. I soon 
procured a couple, and after waiting in the snow behind 
an old bit of a Avail for some time, knocked over six 
more at a shot; they were Larks, but the largest I had 
ever seen. I had studied Yarrell well when making- 
out the Short-toed Lark. What could they be? To 
make sure, however, I turned over the leaves again 
that evening in my hut, but they Avere not there. I 
Avas at a loss. ‘HoAvever,’ I said to myself, ‘they are 
Larks, but someAvhat approaching to Buntings.’ So I 
marked them in my journal as specimens of ‘large Lark,’ 
and noted the measurements and other points. This Avas 
the Calandra Lark, Alauda calandra,) as I afterAvards 
learned from England.” 
