334 TIMELIID.E. 



The eggs are three or four in number for a sitting, oval in form, some specimens being 

 rather pointed at the smaller end, and the shell is close-grained, smooth, and slightly lustrous. 

 They vary in ground colour from a faint salmon-white to a dull reddish-salmon colour, which, 

 as a rule, is almost obscured by numerous freckles or fleecy markings of a slightly darker 

 tint, forming in some instances a zone around the larger end, in others so faint and thickly 

 disposed as to be hardly distinguishable from the ground colour. A set of four, taken by the 

 late Mr. K. H. Bennett, at Yandembah, on the loth September, 1889, measures as follows: — 

 Length (A) 0-92 x 0-63 inches; (B) eg x o"66 inches; (C) 0-9 x 0-64 inches; (Dj 0-92 x o-66 

 inches. A set of four, taken by Mr. A. M. N. Rose, at Campbelltown, New South Wales, on the 

 i6th December, 1897, measures: — (A) o'95 x 0-65 inches; (B) 0-92 x o'66 inches; (C) o'93 x 0'68 

 inches; (D) 0-94 x 0-67 inches. 



The breeding season of this species in the inland portions of New South Wales is generally 

 in September and October; and nearer the coast, November and December. The earliest 

 and latest records I have of fresh eggs being taken in this State are given with the above- 

 mentioned sets. 



Young males resemble the adult male in its winter plumage, but tlie feathers of the upper 

 parts, including those of the rump, also the upper tail-coverts, are margined with sandy-fulvous; 

 an indistinct collar on the hind-neck velvety-brown, with dark brown centres to the feathers; 

 over the eye a fulvous stripe; chin and throat dull white, the latter mottled with dark brown; 

 remainder of the under surface dull brownish-white, with small darker brown centres to the 

 feathers, except those on the sides of the breast, which have only short indistinct streaks. Total 

 length 8 inches, wing 4, tail 3, bill o"j, tarsus i'38. 



Cincloramphus rufescens. 



RUFOUS-RUMPED SIXGING-LARK. 

 Anthus rufescens, Vig. <fe Horsf., Trans. Linn. Soc, Vol. XV., p. 230 (1826). 

 Cincloramphus rufeticens, Gould, Bds. .\ustr., fol., Vol. III., pi. 76 (1848); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. 



Mus., Vol. VII., p. .500 (1883); id., Hand-I. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 26 (1903). 

 Ptencedus rufescens, Gould, Handbk. Bds. .Vustr., Vol. I., p. 397 (186.5). 



.Adult malk — General colour above dark brown, each feather margined with fulvous-brown, 

 those on the Idnd-neck and sides of the neck tvith an ashy shade; lower back fulvous-broken, indistinctly 

 streaked with dark brown; rump and upper tail-coverls light rufous; upper wing-coverts like the 

 back; quills dark brown with a rufous wash on the basal portion of their outer webs and narroivly 

 edged for the remainder of their length with pale fulvous-brown, whitish around the tips of the inner 

 secondaries ; tail feathers brown narrowly edged with fulvous-brown; lores blackish, superciliary 

 stripe dull white; ear-coverts pale brown; chin and throat dull white with a few dark brown spots 

 near the lower throat; remainder of the under surface dull ashy-white, slightly tinged with fulvous, 

 which is m.ore pronounced on the abdomen, thighs, and under tail-coverts. Total length in the flesh 

 7 6 inches, wing 3 7, tail 3'25, bill 5, tarsus 11. 



Adult female — Like the male, but smaller ; bill yellowish-bruwn, the under mandible paler. 

 Total length in the flesh 60 inches, wing 32, tail 2-6, bill 0-47, tarsus 0-9. 



Distribution. — Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South Australia, Central .Vustralia, Western .Vustralia, North-western Australia. 

 gKN favourable situations, the Rufous-rumped Singing-Lark appears to be generally distributed 

 Jl. over the greater portion of the Australian continent. It usually arrives in New South 

 Wales and Victoria about the same time as the preceding species, and departs again after the 

 breeding season is over at the end of February. I have not observed it in New South Wales 

 in the late autumn or early winter months, but Gould noticed it in South .Vustralia in July, and 



