A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2. Robert Ridgway

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СКАЧАТЬ affinity to eggs of Melospiza, Zonotrichia, and many other genera of this order. The eggs of aberti, fuscus, mesoleucus, and albigula are also all closely alike, and exhibit a very close resemblance to those of the Agelaii, and even of the Icteri, while the eggs of P. chlorurus, though of a fringilline character, are unlike either style.

      Family ALAUDIDÆ.—The Larks

      Char. First primary very short or wanting. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly and posteriorly, with the plates nearly of corresponding position and number. Hind claw very long and nearly straight. Bill short, conical, frontal feathers extending along side of the bill; the nostrils concealed by a tuft of bristly feathers directed forward. Tertials greatly elongate beyond the secondaries.

Subfamilies and Genera

      Alaudinæ. Bill stout, short, and conical; nasal fossæ transverse and completely filled by the thick tuft of bristly feathers, and perforated anteriorly by a circular nasal opening. (Old and New World.)

      Crown with a depressed soft crest of feathers, of normal structure; a spurious primary; tail deeply emarginate … Alauda.

      Crown without a crest, but occiput with an erectile tuft of narrow elongated feathers on each side. No spurious primary; tail square, or slightly rounded … Eremophila.

      Calandritinæ. Bill broader, more depressed, and straighter at the base; nasal fossæ longitudinal, large, elongated, the nasal opening rather linear. (Old World.)

      Of the Alaudidæ only the two genera diagnosed above belong to the American continent; and one of them is properly only a wanderer from the Old World, while the other is cosmopolitan.

      The most characteristic feature of the Larks among other oscine families is seen in the scutellation of the tarsus. The anterior half of this is covered by divided scales lapping round on the sides, but instead of the two plates which go one on each side of the posterior half and unite ultimately behind as an acute ridge, there is but one which laps round on the sides, and is divided into scales like the anterior ones, but alternating with them. The posterior edge of the tarsus is as obtuse as the anterior, instead of being very acute. There is a deep separating groove on the inner side of the tarsus; and there may be really but one plate divided transversely, the edges meeting at this place.

      In the elongated hind claw and lengthened tertials, general style of coloration, mode of life, and manner of nesting, there is a decided approximation in the Alaudidæ to the Anthinæ, of the family Motacillidæ; but in these the posterior edge of the tarsus is sharp and undivided transversely, the toes more deeply cleft, the bill more slender, etc.,—their relations being rather nearer to the Sylvicolidæ than to the present family.

Genus ALAUDA, Linn Alauda, Linn. S. N. 1735

      Gen. Char. Bill very small, less than half the length of the head, conical; nostrils exposed; rictal bristles quite strong; commissure without notch; tarsus much longer than middle toe; lateral toes equal; posterior toe about as long as the middle, its claw longer than the digit, and nearly straight; claws of anterior toe very small. Wing long, pointed, the third and fourth (apparently second and third) quills longest, the second and fifth successively, a little shorter; the first so small as to be almost concealed; tertials much elongated, reaching about half-way from end of secondaries to tip of primaries; their ends emarginated; tail rather deeply emarginated, and a little more than half the length of the wing.

Species

      A. arvensis. Above grayish-brown, beneath whitish, with a buffy tinge across jugulum and along sides; every feather above with a medial streak of dusky; sides of throat, sides, and across jugulum streaked with dusky; the outer tail-feathers partly white. Wing, 4.90; tail, 2.80; culmen, .40; tarsus, .80; hind claw, .50. Hab. Europe; accidental in Greenland and the Bermudas.

Alauda arvensis, LinnTHE SKYLARK

      Alauda arvensis, Linn., Faun. Sue. p. 76. Alauda vulgaris, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. and Birds in B. M. p. 21. Alauda cœlipeta, Pall. Zoögr. I, 524. Alauda segetum, Brehm, Vög. Deutschl. 318. Alauda montana, Brehm, Vög. Deutschl. 319, t. 20, f. 1. Alauda agrestis, Brehm, Vög. Deutschl. 320. Alauda italica, Gmel. S. N. I, 793.

      Sp. Char. Adult. Above grayish umber-brown, beneath white, tinged across the breast with soft light ochraceous. Every feather above with a medial dusky streak, the shaft black; wing-feathers and upper tail-coverts bordered with white. Outer tail-feather mostly white, the next one edged with the same. A plain, light superciliary stripe; auriculars nearly uniform light brownish; sides of the throat, jugulum, and sides with short streaks of dusky brown.

      Male. Wing, 4.90; tail, 2.80; culmen, .40; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .55; hind claw, .50.

      Young. Above more yellowish-fulvous, the feathers with central spots, instead of medial stripes of dusky, and bordered terminally with whitish; jugulum washed strongly with ochraceous, and marked with dusky spots.

      Hab. Europe; accidental in Greenland and the Bermudas; Aleutian Islands.

      Habits. The famed Skylark of the Old World can rest a twofold claim to be included in a complete list of North American birds. One of these is their occasional occurrence in the Bermudas, and in Greenland. The other is their probably successful introduction near New York.

      A few years since an attempt was made to introduce these birds, for which purpose several individuals were set at liberty on Long Island. For a short time they did well, and succeeded in raising one or more broods, but, owing probably to the constant persecution of all small birds by the foreign population of the neighborhood, the experiment nearly failed, and none were noticed in that vicinity. Within the last year or two, however, several pairs of these birds have been observed in Westchester County, and also on Long Island, by parties competent to recognize them, and hopes are now entertained that these desirable birds have obtained a foothold in this country.

      According to Messrs. Dresser and Sharpe, the Skylark is found throughout the polar Arctic regions, from the British Islands eastward to Siberia and Northern China. A smaller subspecies is met with in Southeastern Europe, which does not present any character by which it can be separated from it. In Eastern Europe the Lark has been found as far north as the Faroe Islands, but has not been observed in Iceland. It reaches Christiania in March, and leaves in October. It has been found breeding in Lapland as far north as latitude 65°, and is a common summer visitant in Finland. Pallas found it abundant throughout Russia and Siberia, and Steller found it not only in Kamtschatka, but equally in the Kurile Islands and in those between Asia and America, so that its occurrence in our Alaskan territories may be regarded as a not improbable event.

      The same writers also state that the Skylark has been twice recorded as occurring in Greenland and in America; and in another place they state that “the Skylark occasionally visits Greenland, and has been met with in the Bermudas.” In the latter place a storm-tried waif was taken by Mr. J. M. Jones after an easterly gale.

      The Lark is a universal favorite in the Old World, and as a vocalist enjoys a reputation hardly second even to the far-famed Nightingale. It is an inhabitant of all the countries of Europe, and is said to be most abundant in the cultivated districts.

      We only know of its song from caged specimens and from the testimony of European writers. Yarrell speaks of its notes as cheerful and exhilarating, fresh as the season of spring, and the admiration of all hearers. Its voice is described as powerful to an extraordinary degree, and its song wild and joyous. They sing while they fly, rising, with quivering wings almost perpendicularly, until they gain so great an elevation that they can no longer be distinguished; yet, while thus no longer visible, their wild music continues to be heard as that of some unseen spirits of the air. It is СКАЧАТЬ