194 



BLACK LARK. 



it, in spite of tlie great aridity of the soil. The nest 

 is made without art or skill; it is composed of blades 

 of grass, roots, and moss : in the interior small rootlets, 

 and sometimes feathers. It contains from four to five 

 eggs." 



The bird differs much in plumage at different seasons 

 and ages. In summer the entire plumage of the male 

 is black; beak yellow, with the potnt brown, and in 

 the breeding dress in spring it is, as represented in my 

 figure, black, with the feathers of the back, rump, and 

 flanks more or less bordered with white. In the au- 

 tumn it is yellow grey, with scale-like spots, (according 

 to Degland,) on the crop; stomach, wings, and tail 

 black, the quills of both wing and tail bordered with 

 grey white. 



The female has, according to Temminck, all the 

 plumage of a paler black, with the forehead greyish, 

 and all the feathers of the neck, of the throat, and crop 

 finely bordered with grey. 



The young resemble the female, but the plumage has 

 more of a brown shade, the brown of the feathers 

 broader and more yellowish, the tail and wing quills 

 being bordered with the same colour. 



My figure is taken from a male specimen, from the 

 Volga, sent me by Mr. Tristram. The egg is from 

 Thienemann. 



The bird is also figured by Buffon, pi. enl. 650, f. i. ; 

 Gould, B. of E., pi. 161; Vieillot, Galerie des Oiseaux, 

 vol. i, p. 259, pi. 160, adult male; Gmelin, Nov. Comm. 

 Petrop. XV., p. 479, pi. 2o, fig. 2; Werner, Atlas du 

 Manuel, pi. lith. of the young of the year. 



