search | about the author | about the text
(Alauda campestris, Linn.—La Spipolette, Buff.)
THIS bird is six inches and seven-eighths in length, and eleven inches and three-eighths in breadth. The bill is rather slender; irides hazel; a pale streak extends from the upper part of the beak over the eyes, and a dark one underneath; the plumage on the head, neck, back, wings, tertials, and tail, looks altogether of a deep olive brown, but on a nearer inspection, each feather is dark in the middle, and lighter towards the edges; but the lower part of the back is not clouded, being more uniformly pale olive, or greenish brown; the two outside feathers of the tail are brownish white the whole length of their outer margins, and the inner web is the same, about half way from the end. In our figure, which was taken from a stuffed specimen, the tertial feathers were nearly the length of the quills, which latter are narrowly edged on the outer webs with pale greenish brown; the under parts, from the throat to the vent, are of a pale dingy yellow, spotted on the fore part of the neck, and clouded or striped on the breast and sides with olive brown. The legs are pale brownish red; the hind claws long and curved. This bird is mostly met with among the rocks on the promontories and isles near the sea shore: it builds its nest, commonly, in the crevices near the tops of those where the earth has crumbled down and made a lodgment; it is rather large, and is wholly composed of the small blades and stems of dried grass. The eggs, five in number, are closely freckled with ash, and sprinkled with small brown spots.
Page last modified 10/6/2000.
These pages are best viewed/printed with Internet Explorer, the browser that you're not using right now....
Like this page? Let me know. Hate it? Let me know that too. Click here to offer feedback.
©1999-2002 The edited materials, images, and photographs on this site should not be reproduced without the written permission of Peter Friesen. Contact peter.friesen@plattsburgh.edu for information.
