THE SHORT-TOED LARK. 



Alauda brachydactyla, Leisler. 

 Plate 22. 



This little Lark has occurred about a dozen times in England, and has also 

 been obtained on five occasions on Scottish islands, viz. Fair Isle, the Orkneys, 

 and Outer Hebrides, and once in Ireland. It is common as a breeding species 

 in Southern Europe, especially in the open tracts of uncultivated and sandy country 

 of central and southern Spain, and also in North Africa, as well as Asia. 



The nest is situated in a hollow or hoof-mark in the sand, or under the shelter 

 of a clod in fallow land, and is slightly constructed of grass-bents with a lining 

 of hair, and sometimes two or three feathers. The eggs, usually four or five, are 

 white, thickly freckled with ashen-brown. 



The Short-toed Lark lives principally on seeds, and has a pleasing but 

 somewhat feeble song, uttered sometimes while the bird is soaring aloft, some- 

 times on the ground. There is no difference in the colours of the sexes. 



II. 



9 



B 



