156 
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 chi-chup-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 eye, 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 white ; sides streaked with bay ; bill 
short (Latham, in mistake, says seven inches^), 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, how r ever, 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- 
* Phil. Trans, vol. lxii. p. 398. 
f Arct. Zool. 
J Syn. vol. ii., p. 385. 
