LARKS. 
423 
the summer months, frequenting the wildest parts of the island, where its song is 
frequently uttered, as the male thus encourages his mate in the duties of incuba¬ 
tion. Its range extends eastwards to Turkestan, and in winter it visits Upper 
India. Its mode of ascending in the air differs from that of the skylark, consisting 
of a succession of jerks. The short-toed lark is caught in considerable numbers by 
the French bird-catchers, to judge from the frequency with which we have found 
the species for sale in the Paris bird-shops. Its food seems to consist almost 
exclusively of small seeds, the husk of which it has the faculty of breaking 
BLACK LARK, WHITE-WINGED LARK, AND SHORT-TOED LARK (-} liat. size). 
in its bill; but we may presume that insects of some sort are supplied to the 
young. On the ground this lark runs quickly, and it is especially fond of 
grovelling in sand. When at large, it never perches on shrubs or bushes, though 
in confinement, like the skylark, it will readily take to a perch. The cock has 
a lively song, given on the wing both in the morning and evening, but seldom 
in the middle of the day. The nest is formed of a few bits of grass collected in a 
depression of the ground, often a horse’s footprint; and the eggs, four or five in 
number, are of a French white, generally minutely freckled with pale hair-brown. 
The adult has the upper-parts sandy grey, the feathers having dark centres; the 
wings and tail are blackish brown, some of the feathers being margined with buff; 
