LARKS. 
425 
Black Lark. 
parts of Italy and in Greece, the calandra is common also in Turkey; while many are 
shot in winter, as they are large, plump birds, and much in request for eating. Mr. 
G. F. Mathew states that “ the male on commencing his song springs from the 
ground, and with a graceful undulating motion describes a series of large circles 
until he rises to an immense height; his song is then clear and beautiful, but at 
close quarters it is piercing and unpleasant. The call-note is loud and harsh, and 
somewhat similar to that of the corn-bunting. With the Portuguese it is a 
favourite cage-bird, and in many of the streets of Lisbon ma}” be seen hanging 
outside every door in cages. At Gibraltar it is frequent, and many are caught on 
the neutral ground by bird-catchers who use clap-nets with decoy call-birds.” The 
calandra lark makes its nest in a depression of the ground, often at a depth of three 
or four inches. The nest is a careless structure built of grass stems. The eggs are 
dull grey in ground-colour, blotched with brown and pale amber, with underlying 
markings of grey and light brown. The adult is greyish brown above, the 
feathers having dark centres; the under surface of the body is white tinged with 
fulvous, and streaked finely with dark brown. The distinguishing character of this 
species is a large patch of black adorning the sides of the neck. 
The black lark (M. yeltoniensis), which is figured on p. 423, 
inhabits the steppes of Central Asia, migrating westward into 
Southern Russia in the autumn and winter. After rearing their progeny, these 
larks congregate, especially in August, and wander over the brackish places of the 
desert throughout the whole autumn, especially in the region of the salt-lake Yelton. 
In the middle of winter, when the snow covers the land, they approach the towns 
and suburbs. 
In summer, when on the ground, the black lark emits a feeble piping, 
generally singing from a hillock, but its song is not powerful. Its nest is 
merely a slight hollow in the ground, lined with a few vegetable fibres, moss, and 
dried grass. The female lays four eggs, bluish in colour, and spotted with yellow ; 
these being deposited from the end of April till the end of July. In plumage, the 
black lark varies at different seasons; in spring, the entire plumage of the male 
being black, with the feathers of the back, rump, and breast, edged with light 
sandy, but these markings become almost completely obsolete in the height of 
summer. The general colour of the female is sandy brown, the lores and super¬ 
ciliary stripe being whitish, the wings and tail dark brown, edged with sandy; the 
under surface of the body white tinged with buff; the upper part of the breast 
mottled with brown ; and the flanks striated. 
White-Winged This Siberian lark (M. sibirica ) has only once or twice wandered 
Lark. into Western Europe; its home being in the steppes of Eastern 
Russia, whence it extends eastward as far as the Yenesei. It has once occurred in 
Great Britain, a female having been captured near Brighton in 1869, whilst 
consorting with a flock of snow-buntings; and it has likewise been obtained in 
Belgium and Western Germany. Arriving on its breeding-grounds in Russia in the 
spring much later than the skylark, it affects grassy and open districts; and when 
singing, often soars aloft, but does not ascend so high as the skylark. It pairs about 
the middle of May, and builds its nest of grass upon the ground. The eggs, four or 
more in number, are greyish white, closely marked with dull brown. The adult male 
