\LSrS A\D tecs Ul- ALS/A'ALIA.V BIRDS. 30^ 



the 'Tomtit' ( Ac-uiUlti:ii chrysurrhua) ; one absolutoly could not toll 

 one from the other. It seems to have also a song of its own which 

 1 can hardly describe, but it is not a striking one. Do you think you 

 could identify the bird from this description i I have never taken ucst 

 or eggs, but presiuiie they ai"e situated in the growing corn. The bird 

 is generally high in the air, though I have heard it singing from a 

 fence. " There is little doubt that the bird referred to by Mr. Belcher 

 was a Bush Lark. 



In the " List of Birds collected by the Calvci-t Expedition, 

 concerning the Bush Lark, Mr. G. A. Keartland writes; — "On the 

 grassy flats, which extend for some distiuicc on each side of the Filzroj- 

 River, these birds are so numerous as to convey the idea that the head- 

 quarters of the species is in that loculitj-. When we anived at the 

 lagoon near the river mentioned on November 6th, I was surprised at 

 theii" numbers. As we passed along, a constant succession of birds 

 kept rising from the ground and flying to the right ;md left of our hue, 

 but seldom went more than twenty yards before they again settled. 

 It was impossible to throw a stick in any direction without disturbing 

 several. Ai'ound the higoon they were found in such numbers as to 

 remind one of SpaiTows in a dry thistle field. They were very plentiful 

 near the Fitzroy River Telegraph Station and at Mount Campbell, 

 where they were fomid breeding in Fobniary. Their nesls are usually 

 placed near a small tussock of grass, or in a slight hollow fomicd by the 

 pressure of a horse s foot ; the material used to line them with is fine 

 grass. The eggs are beautifully glossy, the ground being a pale stone- 

 colour, almost obscured with brown spots. Four is the usual clutch." 



Mr. A. J. North, who critically examined the birds of the Expedi- 

 tion, judging from one female only, hints that these Larks may be the 

 same <is the South Australian bird, separated by Dr. Sharpe as 

 M. iircuiida. Mr. North has thus described the eggs of the north-west 

 bird : — ■" Pale, yellowish-grey gi-ound-coloiu", thickly covered with 

 numerous yellowish-brown freckles and faint luiderlying dots of slaty- 

 grey." Dimensions in inches; (1) -8 x -57, (2) '77 x -57, (3) "77 x -57, 

 (4) -75 X -55. 



413. — MiR.vFRA SECUNDA, Shai-pe. 

 LESSER BUSH LARK. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. xiii., p. 603. 



(Jroi/raphirul Di-ilrihution. — South Australia. 



.A'rvY and A'f/y-s'. — Uudescribcd. 



Ohxervatidii". — ^Dr. Sharpe was the (irst to point out that there was 

 a second species of Bush Lark inhabiting Australia, which he says is 

 very similar to M. jamnica, but smaller and not so streaked on the 

 chest. 



