( 490 ) 



it is uuJoubtedly a theklae and not cristata. It might belong to G. t. caroliuae 

 or deichleri, or to an unknown subspecies. 



We are much obliged to the authorities of the Liverpool BInsenm for kindly 

 sending us for examination and comparison the Algerian Crested Larks from 

 the Tristram Collection. 



It is highly interesting that Tristram distinguished all the forms which we 

 separate at present, and he collected specimens of all of them except (j. cristata 

 raiidonii and G. the/due liilgerti, as he seems to have passed through their countries 

 without staying to collect much. 



He calls our Galerida theklae harterti simply " Galerida cristata" our 

 G. theklae carolinne he named " G. ahjssinica" our G. theklae deichleri he called 

 " G. isabelliiM," our G. cristata arenicola is his G. arenicola, and our G. cristata 

 macrorhijncha his G. macrorhjncha. 



Probably he was not the only one of the older ornithologists who correctly 

 separated all these forms, and he knew njore about them than many modern 

 writers, though his nomenclature was at fault, as he used names applying to very 

 different N.E. African forms for his Algerian discoveries, which thus remained 

 unnamed until Erlanger named them in 1897 and 1899. We should doubtless have 

 known more about Crested Larks juior to twelve years ago (Erlanger's period), if 

 subsecpieut ornithologists had not found Crested Larks too troublesome and lumped 

 them nearly all. Tristram's Larks were examined by Mr. Dresser, when he 

 wrote his immortal work on the Birds of Europe, and they have all labels with 

 Dresser's identitications, from which we learn that Dresser agreed with Tristram 

 in his naming of the G. macrorhyncha and G. isabellina (our 6^. t. deichleri), while 

 he united both Tristram's arenicola and his abijssiniea (our G. t. caroliuae) with 

 " Galerita cristata," thus undoing part of Tristram's work. 



There are now in the Tristram collection in Liverjwol : 2 G. c. macrorhijncha, 

 2 G. c. -arenicola, 5 G. t. carolinae (all very red, four from Laghonat and one 

 from the M'zab country), and 2 G. t. deichleri from " El Ouibed " among the first 

 dunes east of Temaciu, in the direction of El Oued. 



It is worth noticing that Tristram always spelt the name Galerida and not 

 Galerita, as became the custom for some time afterwards, though Galerita (with t) 

 was preoccupied for a genus of beetles. 



42. LuUula arborea harterti Hilgert (? pallida). 



Lulhila arborea harteHi Hilgert, KaUiloy C'jllectioii Erluiigrr, p. 113 (1908 — "Tuuesien," type 

 cJ ad. Ain bou Dries, 29. v. 1899). 



Woodlarks from N.AV. Africa are certainly paler than North European 

 L. arbo?-ea arborea, and especially more olive, less rufous, on the back and 

 rump. It is, on the other hand, rather difficult to separate them from 

 L. arborea pallida Zarudny : our Transcaspian sjjecimeus are still paler than 

 Tunisian and Algerian ones, but those collected by Mr. Witherby in East Persia 

 aj)pear not to be separable from N.W. African ones. There are aj)iiareutly other 

 cases in wliich soutlierii and south-eastern birds differ from North and N.W. 

 European ones and are not sciiurable inter .fc. Mure material is necessary to settle 

 these questions. 



We found Woodlarks breeding near Batna and Lambese, where Mr. Elwes in 



