671 
observed in the Vicinity of Wei Hai Wei. 
and desert-like, but those that come down on migration in 
September are often much darker. 
These Larks never seem to breed down on the sandy flats, 
where the nests of Calandrella pispoletta are so abundant, but 
always in the fields and on the banks between them. Usually 
the birds are to be seen in small parties, but they are also 
found in pairs, and singly. 
Eggs are laid from May 13th to July 1st, the majority in 
May, and three or four is the usual complement of a clutch : 
five are found occasionally. The eggs of this species taken 
in Shantung seem to fall into two well-marked types ; in 
one there are fairly well-defined markings of green or brown 
on a greenish-white ground, and in the other there are 
small markings, thickly scattered on a bluish-white ground. 
In the first-named type the general impression is of a 
greenish, and in the second of a greyish-white colour. 
Forty eggs from Shantung average *86 x *66 inch, and vary 
in length from *94 to *73 and in width from *69 to *59. 
Calandrella pispoletta. 
During the summer months Pallas’s Desert-Lark abounds 
on the Shantung littoral. The sandy flats which in so many 
parts of the coast separate the hills and the cultivated land 
from the sea provide these little Larks with conditions 
admirably suited to all their breeding requirements. On the 
flats between Wei Hai Wei and Chefoo one may, with the 
assistauce of the small Chinese boys, who are sent out to 
rake up grass, easily examine a hundred or more nests in 
the course of a day. 
The nest of this species is of the flimsiest construction in 
most cases, and often does not even contain any proper 
lining. Frequently the bottom of the nest is formed by the 
sand alone, and sometimes it is nothing more than a horse¬ 
shoe-shaped mass of grass, the space between the ends being 
filled by a lump of sandy material or a stone. Some nests, 
on the other hand, are well sunk into the sand, and some are 
built up on the side of a small hillock and have quite good 
bases and grass or hair linings. 
