informs us, that they visit the environs of Albany fort, in the beginning of May; but go farther north to breed; that they feed on grass seeds, and buds of the sprig birch, and run into small holes, keeping close to the ground; from whence the natives call them chi-chup-pi-sue.* This same species appears also to be found in Poland, Russia, and Siberia in winter, from whence they also retire farther north on the approach of spring; except in the north-east parts, and near the high mountains.†

The length of this bird is seven inches, the extent twelve inches; the forehead, throat, sides of the neck, and line over the eye is of a delicate straw or Naples yellow, elegantly relieved by a bar of black, that passes from the nostril to the eye, below which it falls, rounding, to the depth of three-quarters of an inch; the yellow on the forehead and over the eye is bounded, within, for its whole length, with black, which covers part of the crown; the breast is ornamented with a broad fan-shaped patch of black; this as well as all the other spots of black are marked with minute curves of yellow points; back of the neck, and towards the shoulders a light drab tinged with lake; lesser wing coverts bright cinnamon; greater wing coverts the same, interiorly dusky, and tipt with whitish; back and wings drabcoloured, tinged with reddish, each feather of the former having a streak of dusky black down its centre; primaries deep dusky, tipt and edged with whitish; exterior feathers most so; secondaries broadly edged with light drab, and scolloped at the tips; tail forked, black; the two middle feathers, which by some have been mistaken for the coverts, are reddish drab, centred with brownish black; the two outer ones on each side exteriorly edged with white; breast of a dusky vinous tinge, and marked with spots or streaks of the same; the belly and vent white; sides streaked with bay; bill short (Latham, in mistake, says seven inches), of a dusky blue colour; tongue truncate and bifid; legs and claws black; hind heel very long and almost

straight; iris of the eye hazel. One glance at the figure on the plate will give a better idea than the whole of this minute description, which, however, has been rendered necessary by the errors of others. The female has little or no black on the crown; and the yellow on the front is narrow, and of a dirty tinge.

There is a singular appearance in this bird which I have never seen taken notice of by former writers, viz. certain long black feathers, which extend, by equal distances beyond each other, above the eye-brow; these are longer, more pointed, and of a different texture from the rest around them; and the bird possesses the power of erecting them so as to appear as if horned, like some of the Owl tribe. Having kept one of these birds alive for some time I was much amused at this odd appearance; and think it might furnish a very suitable specific appellation, viz. Alauda cornuta, or Horned Lark. These horns become scarcely perceivable after the bird is dead. The head is slightly crested.

Shore Lark and Sky Lark are names by which this species is usually known in different parts of the union. They are said to sing well; mounting in the air, in the manner of the Song Lark of Europe; but this is only in those countries where they breed. I have never heard of their nests being found within the territory of the United States.

BROWN LARK.

[Plate XLII.-Fig. 4.]

Red Lark, Edw. 297.-Arct. Zool. No. 279.--LATHAM, II, 376. -L'Alouette aux joues brunes de Pensylvanie, BUFF. v, 58.PEALE'S Museum, No. 5138.

IN what particular district of the northern regions this bird breeds, I am unable to say. In Pennsylvania it first arrives from the north about the middle of October; flies in loose scattered flocks; is strongly attached to flat, newly-ploughed fields, commons, and such like situations; has a feeble note characteristic of its tribe; runs rapidly along the ground; and when the flock takes to wing they fly high, and generally to a considerable distance before they alight. Many of them continue in the neigh

This bird is common to Europe and America, and as many nominal species have been made of it we quote the following synonymes from Prince Musignano's observations in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia vol. iv, p. 182-3.

Synonymes of the American specimens:—Alauda rubra, GMEL. LATH.-— Alauda ludoviciana, GMEL. LATH.-Alauda pensylvanica, BRISS.-Farlouzanne, BUFF. Ois.-Alouette aux joues brunes de Pensylvanie, BUFF. Ois,—Lark from Pennsylvania, EDW. Glean. pl. 297.-Red Lark, PENN. Brit, and Arct. Zool. LATH. Syn.-Louisiana Lark, LATH. Syn.

Synonymes of the European specimens:-Anthus aquaticus, BECHST. MEYER. VIEILL. nouv. dict. TEMM.-Alauda spinoletta, LINN. (Ought not this specific name to be restored?)-Alauda campestris B. spinoletta, GMEL. LATH.—Alauda obscura. GMEL. LATH. (young).—Alauda petrosa, MONTAGU, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond. (young).—Anthus rupestris, NILSSON, Orn. Suec.-Alouette pipi. (by error) BUFF. Pl. Enl. 661. f. 2.—Meadow Lark var. A. LATH. Syn.-Dusky Lark, LATH. Syn. (young).—Anthus montanus, Kосн. Bayerische Zool.-The latter nominal species, as Temminck observes, was formed of an adult male, as it appears during the few days of breeding, when they have a roseate tint on the neck, breast, upper part of the belly and flanks.

VOL. II.-Rr

bourhood of Philadelphia all winter, if the season be moderate. In the southern states, particularly in the lower parts of North and South Carolina, I found these Larks in great abundance in the middle of February. Loose flocks of many hundreds were driving about from one corn field to another; and in the low rice grounds they were in great abundance. On opening numbers of these, they appeared to have been feeding on various small seeds with a large quantity of gravel. On the eighth of April I shot several of these birds in the neighbourhood of Lexington, Kentucky. In Pennsylvania they generally disappear, on their way to the north, about the beginning of May, or earlier. At Portland, in the District of Maine, I met with a flock of these birds in October. I do not know that they breed within the United States. Of their song, nest, eggs, &c. we have no account.

The Brown Lark is six inches long, and ten inches and a half in extent; the upper parts brown olive touched with dusky; greater coverts and next superior row lighter; bill black, slender; nostril prominent; chin and line over the eye pale rufous; breast and belly brownish ochre, the former spotted with black; tertials black, the secondaries brown, edged with lighter; tail slightly forked, black; the two exterior feathers marked largely with white; legs dark purplish brown; hind heel long, and nearly straight; eye dark hazel. Male and female nearly alike. Mr. Pennant says that one of these birds was shot near London.

SPECIES 1. S. SIALIS

BLUE-BIRD.

[Plate III.-Fig. 3.]

Le Rouge gorge bleu, BUFFON, v, 212, Pl. Enl. 390.-Blue-Warbler, LATH. II, 446.-CATESB. I, 47.-Motacilla sialis, LINN. Syst. 536.-BARTRAM, p. 291.--PEALE'S Museum, No. 7188.*

THE pleasing manners and sociable disposition of this little bird entitle him to particular notice. As one of the first messengers of spring, bringing the charming tidings to our very doors, he bears his own recommendation always along with him, and meets with a hearty welcome from every body.

Though generally accounted a bird of passage, yet so early as the middle of February, if the weather be open, he usually makes his appearance about his old haunts, the barn, orchard and fenceposts. Storms and deep snows sometimes succeeding, he disappears for a time; but about the middle of March is again. seen, accompanied by his mate, visiting the box in the garden, or the hole in the old apple-tree, the cradle of some generations of his ancestors. "When he first begins his amours," says a curious and correct observer, "it is pleasing to behold his courtship, his "solicitude to please and to secure the favour of his beloved female. "He uses the tenderest expressions, sits close by her, caresses "and sings to her his most endearing warblings. When seated "together, if he espies an insect delicious to her taste, he takes

* Motacilla sialis, LINN. Syst. 1, p. 187, Ed. 10.-GMEL. Syst. 1, p. 989.—Sylvia sialis, LATH. Ind. Orn. 11, 522.-VIEILLOT, Ois. de l'Am. Sept. pl. 101, male; 102, female; 103, young.-La Gorge rouge de la Caroline, BUFF. Pl. Enl. 396, fig. 1, male; fig. 2, female.