r 494 ) 



belong! to this same form. Tin's form is also fairly constant, though occasionally 

 specimens are paler or otherwise darker than the average, but there is not one 

 of onr skins about which there could be any doubt whatever that it belongs to 

 the same form. We have a few skins from Schliiter in Halle, bought from an 

 Italian bird-skinner in Algeria and said to be from the uciglibourhood of I5une, 

 which are much too j)ale to belong to liartfiti, but agree well with our series of 

 hilgerti. 



As from our own observations as well as those of other naturalists in Algeria 

 a lighter form of the same species has never been fonnd within the area inhabited 

 by a darker one, or vice versa, we do not for a moment believe that these specimens 

 of hilgerti ever were obtained near Bone, but they might have been bought on 

 the market, where they were brought from the south. 



It is true that occasionally Crested Larks stray out of their area in winter 

 or autumn, but that a number of sj)ecimens should leave the southern slopes 

 of the Atlas and visit the coast near Bone canuot be admitted. 



The soil where we found G. t. Iiartcrti is generally of a decj) chocolate or dark 

 brown colour. 



AVings of the males 104 — Itiii, sometimes up to los, (ir only lti2 mm. : of 

 females \}~ — 1(»2 mm. 



A clutch of four very hard-set eggs was fonnd on May 3, I'.lll, near Hamraam 

 R'hira, on the ground on a hill covered with grass and thistles, between fields 

 and pine-woods. The eggs are white and covered with small olive-brown spots 

 and underlying grey ones, thus being not nidike eggs of MotaciUa alba, or some 

 varieties of Lullula arborea, except for their much larger size. They measure 

 23-(3 X 17 4, 'Sii X 17-8, 23-6 x 17-7, and 24 x 17-7 mm. 



3'J. Galerida theklae hilgerti Hothsch. & Hart. 



Gakrida cristati hilgerti Rothschild :ind Hartert, aiilea., p. 4',t2. 



This Lark inhabits the southern slopes of the Atlas, where we found it tVom 

 Batna and Lambese to El Kautara and Biskra ; south of Biskra it (lisap]iears, 

 and is represented south of Bordj Saada by 0. theklae deichleri; farther west 

 we found it from Boghari to Ain Oussera. It is always found on stony ground 

 or dry stony tields, and mostly on the bare rocky hillsides, among slabs and 

 boulders of stone. It is very common all round El Kantara, on the foot and 

 slopes of Djebel Metlili, and especially in the pictures(|ue Gorge of Tilatou, and 

 niar Batna. This race is constant enough, though, as in almost every bird, a certain 

 amount of variation is noticeable. The colour of the upper surface may generally 

 be called a ]iale sandy greyish brown. The soil where it is found is mostly of 

 a ]ialc sandy clay-colonr, but it is also met with on the dark soil of fields within 

 its area. 



Wings of males Hl4 — lUtS, females 'J.i — l((l and even 102 mm. 



In the corresponding districts of Tunisia this form is represented by G. theklae 

 s>ii>er/hia. 



411. Galerida theklae carolinae Erl. 



Galerida crisUtIa carulinar Erlanger, Oni. Mniialxhei: 1897. p. 186 (" Hab. ia Sahara petraica 

 Tunesiae, typus ex Oued-oum el Oraf "). 



As stated above, we found this form, varying greatly individually, from the 

 river-bed at Laghouat to the region of the Dayats, and iu a few pairs in the rocky 



