The Lark has, in several instances, been successfully induced to mate and rear her young in an aviary; and Mr. W. P. Foster, of Hackney, is quoted by Mr. Yarrell as authority for the statement, that, during the period of producing the eggs, the female has been heard to sing with a power and a variety of tone equal to the voice of her mate.
While his mate is sitting on her eggs, the male Lark, apparently timid at all other times, is remarkably bold, and drives away other birds that venture too near their nest. He not only watches over her and seeks to protect her, but assiduously supplies her with food.
Genus EREMOPHILA, Boie.
Eremophila, Boie, Isis, 1828, 322. (Type, Alauda alpestris. Sufficiently distinct from Eremophilus, Humboldt, [Fishes,] 1805.)
Phileremos, Brehm, Deutschl. Vögel, 1831.
Otocoris, Bonaparte, 1839. (Type, Alauda alpestris, Gray.) (We are unable to find where the genus is named.)
Gen. Char. First primary wanting; bill scarcely higher than broad; nostrils circular, concealed by a dense tuft of feathers; the nasal fossæ oblique. A pectoral crescent and cheek-patches of black.
♂ Eremophila alpestris.
This genus differs from Melanocorypha in having no spurious first primary,