17 6 
ALAUDIDJS. 
I NS ESS ORES. 
CONIROSTRES. 
ALA UDIDAE. 
SKY-LARK. 
Alauda arvensis. 
PLATE XLV. FIG. I. 
The eggs of the Sky-lark, though very rarely differing 
so much as to cause a difficulty in identifying the species, 
are nevertheless subject to much variety both in form 
and colour ; some are large and oval; others are pyriform 
like those of the waders; some are of the deep sombre 
brown which marks the eggs of the titlark ; others are 
tinted with green, and are, I think, the most characteristic 
of the species; whilst a few, and these are of rare occur¬ 
rence, are so much less closely freckled, as to leave a light 
ground-colour. In a nest, which I found in Derbyshire 
some years ago, were two of these varieties ; one of them 
resembled a good deal the eggs of the woodlark both in 
size and colour; the other was still lighter, the markings 
smaller, and not unlike eggs of the pied wagtail. These 
were in the same nest with three others of the usual size 
and colour. There is yet another variety which I had 
almost forgotten to mention, on which the chief part of 
the colouring is concentrated in a deep zone round the 
larger end, and in two or three specimens which I have 
seen the same deeper colouring was centred in a finger¬ 
like mark on one side only. Like the eggs of many of 
our smaller birds, they are occasionally white. 
The nest of this species is made almost entirely of dried 
grasses, finer towards the interior, mixed with a few roots; 
