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LARISTAN
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LARISTAN , a sub-See also:province of the province of See also:Fars in See also:Persia, bounded E. and N.E. by See also:Kerman and S. by the See also:Persian Gulf. It lies between 26° 30' and 28° 25' N. and between 52° 30' and 55° 30' E. and has an extreme breadth and length of 120 and 210 m. respectively, with an See also:area of about 20,000 sq. m. Pop. about 90,000. Laristan consists mainly of See also:mountain ranges in the See also:north and See also:east, and of arid plains varied with rocky hills and sandy valleys stretching thence to the See also:coast. In the See also:highlands, where some fertile upland tracts produce See also:corn, See also:dates and other fruits, the See also:climate is genial, but elsewhere it is extremely sultry, and on the See also:low-lying coast lands malarious. See also:Good See also:water is everywhere so scarce that but for the See also:rain preserved in cisterns the See also:country would be mostly uninhabitable. Many cisterns are infested with See also:Guinea See also:worm (flaria medinensis, Gm.). The coast is chiefly occupied by Arab tribes who were virtually See also:independent, paying merely a nominal See also:tribute to the shah's See also:government until 1888. They reside in small towns and mud forts scattered along the coast. The See also:people of the interior are mostly ' Le Laquais, from the Ragazzo of Ludovico See also:Dolce; La Veuve, from the Vedova of Nicolo Buonaparte; See also:Les Esprits, from the Aridosio of Lorenzino de Medicis; Le Morfondu, from the Gelosia of See also:Antonio Grazzini; Les Jaloux, from the Gelosi of See also:Vincent Gabbiani; and Les Escolliers, from the Cecca of See also:Girolamo Razzi, in the first See also:volume; and in the second, See also:Constance, from the Costanza of Razzi; Le Fidele, from the Fedele of See also:Luigi Pasqualigo; and Les Trumperies, from the Inganni of N. See also:Secchi. in the See also:season, their produce on the See also:average may be set down as at least quadrupling the See also:original stock—the eggs in .each See also:nest varying from five to three. See also:Young larks leave their See also:birth-See also:place as soon as they can shift for themselves. When the stubbles are cleared, old and young congregate in flocks. In See also:Great See also:Britain in the autumn they give place to others coming from more northerly districts, and then as See also:winter succeeds in great See also:part vanish, leaving but a tithe of the See also:numbers previously See also:present. On the approach of severe See also:weather great flocks arrive from the See also:continent of See also:Europe. On the east coast of both See also:Scotland and See also:England this See also:immigration has been noticed as occurring in a See also:constant stream for as many as three days in See also:succession. Farther inland the birds are observed " in numbers simply incalculable," and " in countless hundreds." In these migrations enormous numbers are netted for the markets, but the See also:rate of See also:reproduction is so rapid, and the conditions of See also:life so favourable in Europe that there is no See also:reason to fear any serious diminution in the numbers of the See also:species. The skylark's range extends across the Old See also:World from the See also:Faeroe to the Kurile Islands. In winter it occurs in North See also:China, See also:Nepal, the See also:Punjab, Persia, See also:Palestine, See also:Lower See also:Egypt and See also:Barbary. It sometimes strays to See also:Madeira, and has been killed in Bermuda, though its unassisted See also:appearance there is doubtful. It has been successfully introduced on See also:Long See also:Island, in the See also:state of New See also:York, into See also:Hawaii and into New See also:Zealand—in which latter it has become as troublesome a See also:denizen as are some other subjects upon which See also:acclimatization See also:societies have exercised their activity. Allied to the skylark a considerable number of species have been described, of which perhaps a dozen may be deemed valid, besides a supposed See also:local See also:race, Alauda agrestis, the difference between which and the normal See also:bird is shown in the annexed woodcut (fig. I), kindly See also:lent to this See also:work by H. E. See also:Dresser, in whose Birds of Europe it is described at length. These are found in various parts of See also:Africa and See also:Asia. The woodlark, Lullula arborea, is a much more local and, there-fore, a far less numerous bird than the skylark, from which it may be easily distinguished by its finer See also:bill, shorter tail, more spotted See also:breast and See also:light superciliary stripe. Though not actually inhabiting See also:woods, as its See also:common name might imply, it is seldom found far from trees. Its See also:song wants the variety and See also:power of the skylark's, but has a resonant sweetness peculiarly its own. The bird, however, requires much care in captivity. It has by no means so wide a range as the skylark, and perhaps the most eastern locality recorded for it is See also:Erzerum, while its appearance in Egypt and even in See also:Algeria must be accounted rare. Not far removed from the foregoing is a See also:group of larks characterized by a larger See also:crest, a stronger and more curved bill, a rufous lining to the wings, and some other See also:minor features. This group has been generally termed Galerita, and has for its type the crested See also:lark, the Alauda cristata of See also:Linnaeus, a bird common enough in parts of See also:France and some other countries of the See also:European continent, and one which has been obtained several times in the See also:British Islands. Many of the birds of this group frequent the See also:borders if not the interior of deserts, and such as do so exhibit a more or less See also:pale coloration, whereby they areassimilated in See also:hue to that of their haunts. The same characteristic may be observed in several other See also:groups—especially those known as belonging to the genera Calandrella, Ammomanes and Certhilauda, some species of which are of a light sandy or cream See also:colour. The genus last named is of very See also:peculiar appearance, presenting in some respects an extraordinary resemblance to the hoopoes, so much so that the first specimen described was referred to the genus Upupa, and named U. alaudipes. The resemblance, however, is merely one of See also:analogy. Certhilauda. andra; B,Rhamphocorys See also:clot-See also:bey. There is, however, abundant See also:evidence of the susceptibility of the Alaudine structure to modification from See also:external circumstances—in other words, of its plasticity; and perhaps no homogeneous group of Passeres could be found which better displays the working of natural selection. Almost every See also:character that among Passerine birds is accounted most sure is in the larks found subject to modification. The See also:form of the bill varies in an extraordinary degree. In the woodlark (fig. 2, A), already noticed, it is almost as slender as a See also:warbler's; in Ammomanes it is See also:short; in Certhilauda (fig. 2, B) it is elongated and curved; in Pyrrhulauda and Melanocorypha (fig. 3, A) it is stout and finchlike; while in Rhamphocorys (fig. 3, B) it is exaggerated to an extent that surpasses almost any Fringilline form, exceeding in its development that found in some members of the perplexing genus Paradoxornis, and even presenting a resemblance to the same feature in the far-distant Anastomus—the tomia of the maxilla not See also:meeting those of the mandibula along their whole length, but leaving an open space between them. The See also:hind claw, generally greatly elongated in larks, is in Calandrella (fig. 4) and some other genera reduced to a very moderate See also:size. The wings exhibit almost every modification, from the almost entire See also:abortion of the first See also:primary in the skylark to its considerable development (fig. 5), and from tertials and scapulars of See also:ordinary length to the extreme See also:elongation found in the Motacillidae and almost in certain Limicolae. The most constant character indeed of the Alaudidae would seem to be that afforded by the podotheca or covering of the See also:tarsus, which is scutellate behind as well as in front, but a character easily overlooked.' - In the Old World larks are found in most parts of the ' By assigning far too great an importance to this superficial character (in comparison with others), C. J. Sundevall (Tentamen, pp. 53-63) was induced to See also:array the larks, hoopoes and several other heterogeneous groups in one " See also:series," to which he applied the name of Scutelliplantares. Cl 'Ns FIG. 2.—A, Lullula arborea; B, FIG. 3.—A, Melanocorypha cal- Palaearctic, Ethiopian and See also:Indian regions; but only one genus, Mirafra, inhabits See also:Australia, where it is represented by, so far as is ascertained, a single species, M. horsfieldi; and there is no true lark indigenous to New Zealand. In the New World there is also only one genus, Otocorys, where it is represented by many races, some of which closely approach the Old World See also:shore-lark, 0. alpestris. The shore-lark is in Europe a native of only the extreme north, but is very common near the shores of the Varanger See also:Fjord, and likewise breeds on mountain-tops farther See also:south-See also:west, though still well within the See also:Arctic circle. The mellow See also:tone of its See also:call-See also:note has obtained for it in See also:Lapland a name signifying " See also:bell-bird," and the song of the See also:cock is lively, though not very loud. The bird trustfully resorts to the neighbourhood of houses, and even enters the villages of East Finmark in See also:search of its See also:food. It produces at least two broods in the season, and towards autumn migrates to lower latitudes in large flocks. These have been observed in winter on the east coast of Great Britain, and the species instead of being regarded, as it once was, in the light of an accidental visitor to the See also:United See also:Kingdom, must now be deemed an almost See also:regular visitor, though in very varying numbers. The observations on its habits made by See also:Audubon in Labrador have long been known, and often reprinted. Other congeners of this bird are the O. penicillata of south-eastern Europe, Palestine and central Asia—to which are referred by H. E. Dresser (B. Europe, iv. 401) several other forms originally described as distinct. All these- birds, which have been termed horned larks, from the tuft of elongated See also:black feathers growing on each See also:side of the See also:head, form a little group easily recognized by their peculiar coloration, which calls to mind some of the ringed plovers, Aegialitis. The name of lark is also frequently applied to many birds except in windy localities. which do not belong to the Alaudidae as now understood. The LARNACA, LARNIOA or LARNECA (anc. See also:Citium, Turk. mud-lark, See also:rock-lark, tit-lark and See also:tree-lark are pipits (q.v.). The See also:grasshopper-lark is one of the aquatic warblers (q.v.), while the so-called meadow-lark of See also:America is an See also:Icterus (q.v.). See also:Sand-lark and See also:sea-lark are likewise names -often given to some of the smaller members of the Limicolae. Of the true larks, Alaudidae, there may be perhaps about one See also:hundred species, and it is believed to be a physiological character of the See also:family that they See also:moult but once in the See also:year, while the pipits, which in See also:general appearance much resemble them, undergo a See also:double moult, as do others of the Motacillidae, to which they are most nearly allied. (A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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