. The birds of Europe . s four or five eggs, of a clear purple marked with large greyspots. Its food consists of insects, seeds, &c. The sexes are only to be distinguished by the female being rather less in size, and by the black markingson the sides of the neck being less developed. The young, as will be seen, exhibit the usual characteristics of the genus, having the tips of all the feathersmargined with yellowish grey. The upper surface is of a sandy grey, the centre of each feather being dark brown; quills dark brownedged with whitish ; throat white bordered by a black lunulated stripe, be
. The birds of Europe . s four or five eggs, of a clear purple marked with large greyspots. Its food consists of insects, seeds, &c. The sexes are only to be distinguished by the female being rather less in size, and by the black markingson the sides of the neck being less developed. The young, as will be seen, exhibit the usual characteristics of the genus, having the tips of all the feathersmargined with yellowish grey. The upper surface is of a sandy grey, the centre of each feather being dark brown; quills dark brownedged with whitish ; throat white bordered by a black lunulated stripe, beneath which the feathers are dirtywhite varied with black; belly white; flanks and thighs brown; the outer tail-feather on each side whiteon the outer web and tipped with white, the third edged with grey and tipped with white, the fourthtipped with grey, the remainder of the tail black ; bill pale horn colour; legs pale grey. The Plate represents an adult male, and a young bird of the year, both of the natural **% -Alauda bradiydactyla; /rT&m>m:) t-tmjh-Ktil,/.L_ ZGoii :.i JymfocO by CJifkZ&m&rufeO. % SHORT-TOED LARK. Alauda brachydactyia, a doigts courts. This species, like Alauda Calandra and Alauda Tartarica, is distinguished by the more powerful and robustform of the bill, and by the comparative shortness of the toes, circumstances which, as we have alreadyobserved, would appear to constitute the characters of a minor group of the Larks ; in neither, however, arethe toes so much abbreviated as in the present instance. The members of this group would appear to bewidely distributed, the largest of the genus, Alauda Tartarica, being a native of high northern latitudes, whilethe delicate species here figured makes the southern regions of Europe, and the adjacent portions of Africa,its permanent habitat. It is said to abound on the hot sandy plains of the Spanish Peninsula, and that it isno less abundant in Sicily and in some portions of Italy; in fact i
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