C 140 ) 



The Gf.xcs AMMOMANES. 



For many years it Las been customary among ornithologists to unite the little 

 Amt»omaiii\-< with black-tipped rectrices from the Cape Verde Islands, Alj^eria, 

 Egypt, and Arabia under one name, and this is also the verdict of Sharpe, Cut. B. 

 Brit. Mus. XIII. pp. 044, 045. Nevertheless it is hardly correct, for though 

 one ispearic name might embrace them all, those from different countries differ 

 conspicuously in colour. The birds from the Cape Verde Islands are as different 

 from those of Algeria and Tuuis as Shar))e's Animoimiies ulyeriemis {Cat. B. Brit. 

 ^fll.t. XIII. p. 04.")) is from .1. (1,'xerti Licht. I have seen many specimens from 

 Algiers and Timis, collected by Koenig and Spatz, and .some procured from 

 -Schlnter. All these are most distinctly jjaler than the sjjecimens from the Cape 

 Verde Islands, which are very rufous and very dark. Were it not that most larks 

 are known to differ in colour in different localities, often in harmony with the 

 general appearance of the soil and surroundings, I would, especially in view of the 

 insular habitat of the Cape Verde form, gladly allow it specific rank ; but judging 

 from analogies of other Ahiudidae, this does not seem wise, and I am (|uite con- 

 tented to give it snbspecitic rank. The mischief done in uniting the palaearctic 

 forms of the Ammmnane.^ with a black-ti]i])ed tail (for a mischief it is undoubtedly, 

 as it serves to conceal from the view of the truth-seeking naturalist the most 

 interesting facts of local differentiations, by informing him that forms are 

 ^' identical," while in fact they differ conspicuously) started long ago (Heuglin, 

 Dohrn, etc.), and it was sanctioned and spread by Dresser (1). Europe, IV. 

 p. 336), who, however, acknowledged the differences between the N. African and 

 Cape Verde birds, but denied their having " specific " value, as he never admitted 

 the imijortance of subspecific forms, and consecjuently never separated them, a 

 method in which he— unlike many others — always has shown reasonable consistency. 

 Sharpe, in 1890, who should have separated A. cinctura of the Cape Verde Islands 

 from the North African forms if he separated A. algeriensis from ^1. deserti, had 

 only one skin from Eg3-pt and one from Persia (!) to compare in the British 

 Museum, and therefore had not much material to form an opinion on. As it is, the 

 dark and red Cape Verde bird must bear the oldest name, A. cinctura (Gould), 1S41. 

 The next name available for any of the North African forms is A. anmieolor (Sundev.), 

 1850. I have not his article before me to consult, but have to trust the authorities 

 whose books are before me, and who assert that SundevalTs name a]iplies to a form 

 with a blatk-tipxied taO. The question now is, whether the Nubian birds are exactly 

 like the Algerian ones. I have only been able to compare two, and they are 

 certainly strikingly more greyish brown than the Nortii-West African birds. I have 

 no doubt that this is a constant character of the North-East African birds, and that 

 they must be separated subsjiecifically. If my surmise is right, the North-East 

 African bird must bear the name aren/color, and that of Algeria and Tunis the name 

 reffulus. 



A similar difference as between the North-West African and the North-East 

 African form of ,1. nnctura, only more obvious, is found in A. de.'terti, and .therefore 

 Sharpe, who, it seems, first noticed their differences, named the former A. algmen-iis. 

 There are, however, slight variations of shade of colour found in the same districts, 

 and therefore I do not believe that these forms are more than subspecies, nor do I 

 think that .1. phoeiiinjroidcs is more than a subsj)eeies. If all the countries between 

 Tunis and Nubia on one side, and between Abyssinia, Egypt, and tlie Persian Gulf 



