(497 ) 



1882 and Fliickiger in 1902 also collected examples, while Koenig even found 

 the eggs. 



In the early morning, in May 1911, we heard the beautil'ul song of the 

 Woodhirk on hills sparingly covered witii pines, near Hammam R'hira. 



43. Alauda arvensis cinerea Ehmcke. 



Alaiula chierea Ehmcke, Journ.f. Orit. 1903. p. 149 (Barnoul in W. Siberia). 



Skylarks are abundant in Algeria, and especially iu the south. We have 

 collected eight specimens in February and March near Biskra and in February 

 near Algiers and Hammam Meskoutinc, and com[)ared a number in tlie collections 

 of the late Fjrlanger and Professor Koeuig. All these winter birds are very 

 much more greyish or mealy than European Skylarks, and it is apparently correct 

 to call them A. arvensis cinerea. All these winter birds have comparatively short 

 bills — culmen 14 to 15 mm. at the utmost. By a curious accident it happens that 

 all our specimens are females, but we have compared males in the collections 

 of Erlanger and Koenig which are not essentially diflercnt. Apjiarently these 

 winter Larks disappear in April. 



44. Alauda arvensis harterti AVhit. 



Aliuiila arvensis hartciii Whitaker, Bull. B. 0. Club xv. p. I'.l (1904 — Breeding in Tunesia). 



Skylarks breed in many parts of Algeria, and in considerable numbers near 

 Batna and Lambese. We shot several sjiecimens near Batna, and also on the 

 Djebel Mahmel, at an elevation of about LSOU m., on Blay 12. All these specimens 

 appear to be slightly less sharply marked and not quite so mealy as the winter 

 Larks, but that may partly be due to the worn edges of the feathers. There is, 

 however, another feature which distinguishes them easily : the bill is longer 

 and comparatively slenderer, the culmen measuring 16 to 17 mm. We have, so far, 

 only a small series of four males and one female, all shot in May near Batna and 

 on the Djebel Mahmel. The female has, as always in Skylarks, the wing 

 shorter than the male, but the bill is as long as in males and still thinner. 



It remains to be found out if these Larks are resident all the year round 

 in Algeria and Tunisia. 



Curious to say, we found no Skylarks breeding at Hammam Meskoutine, nor 

 near Hammam R'hira. 



45. Alaemon alaudipes alaudipes (,Desf.) 



We found the " Bifasciated Lark" wherever sand-dunes were predominant. 

 Near Biskra they appear on the dunes about 15 kilometres to the south-west, 

 and we shot one near Sidi Okba. South of Bordj Saada it is found wherever 

 dunes or sandy stretches occur iu the stony plain or even in the sebcha, and near 

 Touggourt it is common. It liv(!s chiefly where there is some vegetation — 

 Limoniastnim, Saliconiia, Salsola, and other bushes — on the sand, but also among 

 the most desolate and bare dunes from Touggourt to El Oued. One's attention is, 

 at least in spring, nearly always drawn to it by its Ijeautiful sung, which consists 

 of a series of ascendant flute-like notes, sometimes followed by a lively twitter. 

 Nothing can describe the beauty of these melancholy, plaintive notes ; and the bird, 

 when slowly rising into the air or descending with its conspicuously black-aud- 



