38 



NOVITATES ZOOLOQICAE XXVI. 1919. 



Dongola-bend of the Nile seemed to me to be the same, but that, before a 

 decision was arrived at, better series, specially of fresh autumn birds, should 

 be examined, as I had only, at the time, worn spring birds. I now consider 

 that the Dongola birds are the same as the Akasheh ones, i.e. allirostris, while 

 those from the Abyssinian coast are different and have been named G. cristata 

 eritreae (Zedlitz, Orn. Monatsber. 1910, p. 59). Should the Dongola birds differ 

 again from the Akasheh ones (possibly a larger series might show them to be 

 paler again, but this I cannot now decide, as I have only autumn birds of the 

 one, spring ones of the other locahty, but I believe they are identical), a new 

 name must be given to the former. 



NicoU is convinced that his moeriiica, collected about 50 km. from the Nile, 

 is separable from the birds of the Nile Valley at the same latitude. Of course 

 the Fayoum is very peculiar and has, as shown by Nicoll, who made a collection 

 of birds there, several different, most interesting forms, but other species arc 

 quite the same, and the distance — ^probably actually much less than really 

 50 km., because Crested Larks probably occur between the places where Nicoll 

 collected and the Nile — is so small that even local birds like Larks may well 

 be the same in both places. I have found isolated colonies of Gahrida theklae 

 deichleri in the Western Sahara at places that were quite and even more than 

 50 km. apart. According to Nicoll, moeriiica differs from the form of the opposite 

 Nile Valley by having longer wings, "and in a large series generally having 

 whiter underparts and smaller, more clear-cut spots on the jugulum." 



Now the supposed longer wings of " moeriiica " are not a fact, at least two 

 males from the Fayoum, collected by Messrs. Nicoll & Bonhote, have the wings 

 102 and 106 (barely), while others from the Nile Valley have wings of 102-7 mm. — 

 i.e. exactly the same ; even if Nicoll's larger series happens to show a slight 

 greater average of length in wings of Fayoum birds, that would not be enough 

 for separation, as it might be individual, accidental ; such very slight (supposed) 

 differences in the length of wing as might possibly exist in Nicoll's series become 

 only worth considering if they are confirmed by a very large scries. The smaller, 

 " more clear-cut spots " are not in the least noticeable in the two Fayoum birds, 

 compared with over a dozen Nile Valley ones. Remains the more whitish under- 

 side : this I remember was apparent in some, but not all, of Nicoll's little series 

 which I saw when he and Bonhote described moeritica, but it seems to me 

 insignificant, as of the two now before me only one shows it, and that can be 

 matched by Nile Valley birds. In Larks, where the underside is often more or 

 less soiled with the dust of the ground, this is altogether a very unsatisfactory 

 character, and if it is the only one is not a good subspecific one. I therefore 

 believe that in the end my uniting of moeriiica -wWh maculata v>'\\\ be approved 

 of by unbiased brother ornithologists. 



It is perhaps good that Nicoll wrote that letter to the Ihis, if only that it 

 induced me to make my own views clearer and more expUcit. In difficult genera 

 like Gahrida finality and consent can only be reached very gradually, by studying 

 and discussing over and over again the various forms and questions. The status 

 of the genus Galerida has altered more than perhaps any other within the last 

 30 years. In 1890 appeared Sharpe's account of it in vol. xiii. of the Catalogue 

 of Birds. It is clear from the lengthy notes on pp. 625, 626, that Sharpe was 

 considerably puzzled, and, though he might have separated more forms than he 

 did, if he had had more regard to geographical separation, he could not possibly 



