The food of the Shore Lark consists of grass-seeds, the blossoms of dwarf plants, and insects. It is an expert catcher of flies, following insects on wing to a considerable distance, and now and then betaking itself to the sea-shore to search for minute shell-fish or crustacea. It associates with the Brown Lark (Anthus Spinoletta), which indeed breeds in the same places. As I found the nest of the latter in Labrador, for the first time in my life, I will here describe it. It is always, I believe, placed next to the foot of a rock, in a tuft of grass, and is entirely composed of fine bent grass, neatly lined with delicate fibrous roots, without any feathers. The eggs, usually four, are small, and of a very dark uniform chocolate colour.
The Shore Larks reach the United States at the approach of winter. When the weather is severe in the north, they are seen in Massachusetts as early as October. Many spend the winter there, in the vicinity of the sea shore and sandy fields; others retire farther south, but seldom proceed beyond Maryland on the Atlantic, or the lower parts of Kentucky, west of the Alleghany mountains. My friend Bachman never saw one near Charleston, and only one have I seen in Louisiana, where the poor thing appeared quite lost, and so fatigued, that I caught it. I am, therefore, scarcely disposed to believe that this species was ever found on the table land of Mexico, as asserted by Mr Bullock.
At this season they fly in their usual loose manner, over the fields and open grounds, in search of food, which now consists of seeds, and the dormant larvæ of insects, mixing with the Brown Lark, and now and then with the Cow Bunting and others. They become plump and fat, and afford delicious food, for which reason our eastern markets are supplied with them. Although they at times alight on fences, I never saw one on a tree. The ground, indeed, is their proper place; there they repose, near tufts of dry grass, in small groups, until the return of day, when they run about in a straggling manner. If affrighted, the whole take to wing, perform a few evolutions, and alight on the same ground again.
I have given six figures of this beautiful Lark in different stages. The male birds, which, during the love season, have the black tufts of feathers on their head, as represented in the plate, nearly lose them at the approach of winter, when the brightness of their whole summer plumage is also much diminished.
Alauda alpestris, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 289.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 498.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 102.
Shore Lark, Wils. Americ. Ornith. vol. i. p. 85. fig. 4. Female.
Horned or Shore Lark, Alauda cornuta, Swains. and Richards. Fauna Bor.- Americ. vol. i. p. 245.
Adult Male. Plate CC. Fig. 1 and 3.
Bill rather short, somewhat conical, compressed, acute, straightish, entire; upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly arched, the edges inflected and sharp, the point acute; lower mandible straight, with inflected edges and acute tip; nostrils basal, oval, with an arched membrane, and covered by the frontal feathers. Head rather large, neck short, body oval. Legs of ordinary length; tarsus longer than the middle toe, anteriorly scutellate, acute behind; lateral toes nearly equal, the outer united to the middle one at the base; hind toe of moderate size; claws longish, slightly arched, that of the hind toe very long, tapering, acute, and nearly straight.
Plumage rather dense and compact. Wings of moderate length; the second and third primaries longest, first and fourth nearly equal; secondaries emarginate; scapulars elongated. Tail emarginate, straight, of twelve feathers. The principal peculiarity in the plumage consists of two erectile pointed tufts of feathers on the anterior and lateral parts of the head, which give the bird, viewed from before, a very remarkable appearance, somewhat resembling that of an owl.