( 145 ) 



Brehm.* Ascending the monntains of Shoa and Abyssinia we have evidently 

 several forms, which I cannot fully discuss at present.f 



In an article in J.f. 0. 1873 — which is meant to nnravel mysteries, but causes 

 only more confusion — E. von Homeyer describes a form from Abyssinia as 

 Q. mu'-rocristata {sic, not microcristata , as would be grammatically correct). This 

 name is possibly synonymous with Alauda praetermissa Blanf., of which Homeyer 

 evidently knew nothing, but there are contradictory statements in the description- 

 Besides this form Homeyer mentions a G. al/i/xsinici, " IJiippel " {sic), but Rtippell 

 never used that name in his publications. However it must not be supposed that 

 Homeyer's G. (ihtjssinicii " Riippel " is Bonaparte's ab^ssinica. Homeyer declares 

 that, although Bonaparte gave this name to a yellow sand-coloured form, it should 

 be used for a small dark mountain form, because that was the real Abyssinian bird ! 

 Similar nomenclatural eccentricities and illogical conclusions are often found in 

 this article, but it must be admitted that they are only a step more in the way of 

 certain ornithologists who will not accept strict priority in nomenclature. Accord- 

 ing to my own statement in Knt. Senckenherg. Vogelsamml. p. 40, note 78, the bird 

 on which Homeyer founded his " G. a/ii/ssini/'a Rtippel " is " G. cristnt",^^ a state- 

 ment which probably requires moditication. 



Wandering farther eastwards we come again to a large country — Arabia — 

 whence I do not know the crested larks. In Turkestan and Yarkand, and perhaps 

 down to the Persian Gulf, is again found a large long-billed form, G. mnqnn^X which 

 resembles G. c. macrorhyncha so much tiiat I am not able to give distinguishing 

 characters. It seems also to vary in darkness and lightness of colour, almost as 

 much as G. c. mcicrorhjncha and G. c. arenicola. Very close to (j. c. magnu, if at 

 all separable, is the North Chinese G. c. le'iuttingensis.^ 



A very distinct form inhabits North- West India. It is very small, very grey 

 above, below not at all isabelline, the crop-region richly marked with blackish lirown 

 s])ots. II How it came to be constantly confounded with others is difficult to under- 

 stand. The names ckendoola and bogsii evidently both refer to this form. 



Now to the nomenclature of all these forms. 



G. cristata (L.) (Ed. X. ji. 106, 17os) of course applies to the North-European 

 form, K. Linnaeus' distribution " Habitat in Enropae iv'w" is excellent, and quite 

 to the point. Synonymous with it are undoubtedly Alauxla cochevis P. L. S. Miill., 

 A. galerita Pall. (? partim), G. viariim Brehm, Heterops ci-istatus Frankl. 



La Coquillade of Daubenton and Montlieillard (not t'oquiUarde, as quoted in the 

 Cat. B.) seems a curious bird, and it is by no means certain whether it is a distinct 

 form of 't. cristata or a mere " aberration." Therefore the names A. matutinn 

 Bodd., .1. undata Gm., and A. plumata P. L. S. Miill., Linn. Natursgst. Suppl. p. 137 

 (not quoted in Cat. B.), which are all based on the " Coquillade,'' must all be 

 quoted with a query, not without, among the synonyms of G. cristat". 



A. senegalletisis (spelt thus !j P. L. S. Miill., based on the " Cochevis du 

 Sinegal " of Daubenton and Montbeillard, belongs of course to form b. 



Alauda ckendoola Frankl. and Certhilaada, boysii Blyth must, I think, both 

 belong to the little grey N.W. Indian form, form o. 



* Form /;. 



t Evidently at Icvst two forms, k. I. 



J Form m. 



§ Form «. 



II Form 0. 



10 



