( 143 ) 



3>i'oper Alaiula*), or as tlie same author's (ndcrita arciiicol'i var. fuKca {(jeol. anrl 

 Zool. Abi/ssinia, p. 387), whicli Sliarpe declares to be identical with .1. prni'termisxa 

 (mark the genus !), but the measurements do not agree ! As, however, this is 

 a ([uestiou which can only finally be settled by a comparison of the different types, 

 I will leave it out of consideration for the present time. 



Most excellent field-notes, descriptions of nests, eggs, etc., of the Algerian 

 forms by Koenig are found in the Journal/. Ornithologie, 189.5, and remarks of 

 great clearness and correctness by Whitaker in the Ibis, 1895 and 1896, where a 

 new name for a form, G. cristata pallida, from Tunis, is created. 



The " t3pical " Aluttda criittata L., which I would call Galerida cristata, sensu 

 strictiore, or Oaleridu cristata cristata L.,t is found all over Europe. Specimens 

 from Sweden, Germany, Holland, Austria, France, Servia, Hungary, Turkey, 

 S. Russia (Sarepta), also one shot at Athens in January by Elwes, do not differ 

 in any obvious way, so that no subspecies can be made out of them. Of course they 

 vary individually, but I have not been able to trace any locally modified groups 

 among them. Two from Attica, shot in March, are a little paler grey above, but 

 more specimens would be necessary to decide whether this is characteristic for the 

 birds breeding in that country. One of them is very small, the otlier not! Both 

 are said to be females ! 



In Southern Spain and Morocco there must be, according to Sharpe, two very 

 <lifferent forms. If this is correct they must inhabit different parts of the countries 

 in which they are found. This is confirmed by Alfred Brelim and others. The 

 one which is like the Seuegambian one is found in the sandy plains, the little dark 

 G. theklae on the mountains and among the black rocks. One Sharpe says is 

 " absolutely identical " with specimens from Seuegambia. I have no such birds 

 before me just now, but that does not matter, as it is clear that we have here 

 another form, which is closely allied to G. cristata cristata of Europe, and of similar 

 dimensions, but altogether much more reddish, i)aler, and sand-coloured ; perhaps 

 the beak also, in the mean, a little larger, but sometimes even smaller.^ Its e.xact 

 distribution is not clear ; but it is certain that it breeds in Senegambia and the 

 Western Sudan, as Sharpe mentions nestlings from the River Gambia, and I met 

 with it in the northern dry parts of Hausa-land, where it was iu full song in 

 February and early in March. One skin which I shot at Jassaura, a town 

 discovered by me not very far from Sokoto, in a country which during the dry 

 season was very dry, sandy, and almost desert-like, I sent to E. von Homeyer, who 

 professed to be an authority on larks, iu the hope that I should get a useful ojiinion 

 on this form for my article in the ././'. 0. 1886 (see p. 582, No. 19), but he only 

 sent me a sweeping remark (I.e.), which was not even quite correct. This bird is 

 still in the Homeyer collection, now in Braunschweig, and is before me, thanks to 

 the kindness of Professor W. Blasius. It is distinctly the G. .<enegallemis 

 {P. L. S. Mali.). 



The other South Spanish form is G. theklae (thus spelt, not thecklac, as Sharjie 

 writes). It is very small, very bl.ack, the breast with numerous broad blackish 



* This brings iis to the difficult question of the genera of the Alaialidaf. How many ran be made .' 

 and is there a sharp hne between Alamla and Oalfrida 1 I am not prepared to answer this n(>\v, and I 

 believe it is not so easy as it seems. According to Sharpc'e key (pp. .'(12, .^13). they would seem to rnn 

 into each other. 



t Form a. 



X Form b. 



