( 486 ) 



Fetzara in North Algeria, May 21. The latter is sliirhtly darker, less sandy, 

 than the one from El Kaiitara and, indeed, onr whole series from South Algeria : 

 lint this is ])roliat)ly due to the liglit edges of the feathers being more worn off. 

 On the whole onr series from Algeria, Tnnisia, and Morocco is more sandy on 

 the npper surface, and the heads are more rufous than in birds from Southern 

 Eurojie ; hnt it appears — ^^judging from onr series — to be impossible to draw a 

 line, there being too much variation. Messrs. Erlanger and Wiiitaker have used 

 the name "ifala" for the Tunisian form. Erlanger called all his Tunisian birds 

 " itala" while Mr. Whitaker says that typical liracln/dacti/lii occurs rarely in 

 North Tunisia. 



These rare " tyjiical l/nichi/tlarfi/la " are perhaps eastern ('. Iirai-lii/ilnrti/l<i 

 Inngifieniiis. On March 2iJ Mr. Steinbach fired into a flock of Siiort-toed Larks 

 behind his house in Biskra and killed two birds which had not the usual 

 sandy rnfescent colour and appeared quite greyisli. One of these he gave ns. 

 It agrees well with dark specimens of the eastern snbsjiecies, C. /;. lontii/K'niiis 

 {\'i'(/. pal. Fauna i. p. 210). 



In case one wishes to separate the African form from that of South Europe 

 the name itala cannot be used for it. " Mela/iocori//>//(i itala" Brehm {Uaiulh. 

 Nntunj. Vdq. JJeatsclil. p. 311, 1831) was described as coming from '' Italien, 

 besonders Sardinien " ; this was probably an inexactitude, as the collection 

 contains only a young bird and an adult, both from Sardinia. The old bird is from 

 July, and therefore its plumage very w^orn — moreover it is over eighty years 

 old ! Nevertheless it does not appear to be of so sandy a colour as most 

 Algerian birds; the rufous head is very obvious, but this is also not unfreijuently 

 the case in Southern Europe. 



Hartert is now convinced that he accepted the distribution of ( '. hracki/cilaeti/la 

 brachydactyla to go too far eastwards : specimens from Eastern Persia and 

 Persian Baluchistan evidently all belong to the eastern form (lomjiijeniiis), and 

 the latter occurs also in the autumn in Palestine, where, however, birds 

 apparently not different from the Western form are breeding. The Hon. 

 N. Charles Rotiischild collected the latter near Shendi in March, while in 

 the Natron Valley, at Bir Victoria, he obtained a rather greyish /o»i/?j/en/iis on 

 March 7, 1003. 



On onr journey to the M'zab country, in April I'Jll, we saw docks of 

 these Larks near Laghonat, and thionghout the desert to Ghardaia, but they 

 did not seem to breed in these districts, and became less numerous towards the 

 end of the mouth. 



32. Calandrella minoi- minor (<'ali.) 



This little Lark is not so universally coujnjon as C. Iintchijddi-tijla, but some- 

 what local. It is not at all rare near Biskra, where it was one of tlio first birds we 

 shot, near "Fontaine (Jliaude." We found it neither in fields nor in the sandy 

 desert, but only on clayey ste]ipe. We came across it near Sidi Okba in March, at 

 " Monleina" south of Biskra, and near Onmash on March 14. In the last locality 

 it was undonbtedly breeding, as we saw a jiair, the male of which was singing. The 

 song is not loud and voluminons, but pleasant, and is uttered while on the wing or 

 on the ground. Mr. Fliickiger met with C. minor near liiskra in December and 

 January. 



Large flocks were met with in the plain of El Onfaya on February 23, 1911, 



