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Synopsis of the Bird# 
Female and young hardly different from the adult male. 
Moult annually. Feathers of the head more or less erectile. 
Live in flocks ; build and dwell almost exclusively on the 
ground ; eggs, 4—6. Feed on seeds, herbs, rarely on insects : 
fond of dusting themselves. Fly well : run rapidly : tail 
motionless. Suspend themselves aloft in the air, singing 
sweetly. Flesh excellent. 
Widely spread over the globe. 
158. Alauda alpestris,L. Reddish-drab ; beneath whitish ; 
a broad patch on the breast and under each eye, and lateral 
tail feathers, black ; two outer exteriorly white. 
Shore Lark , Alauda alpestris, Wils. Am . Orn. i. p. 85. pk 5. 
fig- 4- 
Inhabits the north of both continents ; much more com- 
mon and migrating farther south in America : only a winter 
visitant in the southern and middle states. 
32. EMBERIZA. 
Emberiza , L. Briss . Gm. Lath. 111. Cuv. Temm . Ranz. 
Emberiza , Passerina, Vieill. 
Bill short, robust, conic, somewhat compressed, entire ; mar- 
gins narrowed in, and near the base, a little angular ; upper 
mandible rounded above, acute, smaller and narrower than 
the lower ; palate with a longitudinal bony tubercle ; lower 
mandible rounded beneath, very acute : nostrils basal, small, 
rounded, open, partly covered by the frontal feathers : tongue 
thick, divided at tip. Tarsus about equal to the middle toe ; 
lateral toes equal ; outer united at base to the middle one ; hind 
toe hardly thicker than the fore toes and as long as the late- 
ral. Wings moderate ; first primary almost equal to the 
second and third, which are longest. Tail even or emar- 
ginate. 
Female differ from the male. Young resemble the female, 
but darker and more deeply spotted. European and North 
American species moult annually. 
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