SHORE LARK. 
85 
are thickened with leaves, it is no easy matter to discover 
them. In fall, they are so extremely fat, as almost to dissolve 
between the fingers as you open them,- owing to the great 
abundance of their favourite insects at that time. 
SHORE LARK — ALAUDA ALPESTRIS. — Plate V. Fig. 4. 
Alauda alpestris, Linn. Syst. 289. — Lath. Synop. ii. 385. — Peale’s Museum , 
No. 5190. — Alauda campestris, gutture flavo, Lartram, p. 290. — L’Alouette de 
Virginia, De Luff. v. 55. — Catesb. i. 32. 
ALAUDA ALPESTRIS. — LiNNiEUS. 
Alauda alpestris alouette a Hause col noir, Temm. i. 279. — Lonap. Synop. 102. 
Vieill. Gal. des Ois. pi. 155. p. 256. — Alauda cornuta, Swain. Synop. Birds of 
Mexico, Phil. Mag. §■ Ann. 1827, p. 434. — North Zool. ii. p. 245. 
This is the most beautiful of its genus, at least in this part 
of the world. It is one of our winter birds of passage, arriving 
from the north in the fall; usually staying with us the whole 
winter, frequenting sandy plains and open downs, and is 
numerous in the southern states, as far as Georgia, during 
that season. They fly high, in loose scattered flocks; and at 
these times have a single cry, almost exactly like the Sky Lark 
of Britain. They are very numerous in many tracts of New 
Jersey; and are frequently brought to Philadelphia market. 
They are then generally very fat, and are considered excellent 
eating. Their food seems principally to consist of small round 
compressed black seeds, buckwheat, oats, &c. with a large 
proportion of gravel. On the flat commons, within the 
boundaries of the city of Philadelphia, flocks of them 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, 
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