MIHAFRA. 305 



typically they are of a dull greyish-white ground colour, which is almost obscured with freckles 

 of slaty-brown and umber-brown, uniformly distributed over the surface of the shell. In others 

 the markings have a faint purplish wash, while in some specimens they are confined principally 

 towards the thicker end, where they are confluent and form a more or less well defined zone. A 

 set of three taken at Canterbury, New South Wales, on the nth August, 1899, measures as 

 follows: — Length (A) o'86 x 0-65 inches; (6)0-85 ^ 0-65 inches; (C) 0-87 x 0*63 inches. 

 A set of four, taken at Belmore on the 23rd December, igoo, measures : — Length (A) 0-9 x 0-65 

 inches; (B) 0-92 x 0-65 inches; (C) 0-92 x 0-63 inches; (D) o-g x o'64 inches. 



August and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season of this species 

 in Eastern Australia. In the neighbourhood of Sydney nests with eggs are more frequently 

 found during the latter end of September and early in October, and less often again towards the 

 end of November. I have noted young birds in the nest on the i8th of January. At Mudgee 

 Mr. J. D. Cox and Mr. A. G. Hamilton found nests with eggs from the ist of August to 

 the 2oth November. A nest with three eggs in the Group collection, together with the entire 

 surroundings, I procured at Dobroyde, in September 1889, by cutting out a square of earth and 

 removing it in a closely fitting box. Mr. E. D. Atkinson writes that he took a set of fresh eggs 

 near Table Cape, North-west Coast, Tasmania, on the 23rd January, 1892. 



Family ALAUDID^. 

 Mirafra horsfieldi. 



HORSB'IELD'S BUSH LARK. 



Afirafra horsfieldii, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1847, p. 1; i<L, Hds. Austr., fol. Vol. IV., pi. 77 

 (1848),- id., Handbk. Bds. Austi-., Vol. I., p. 404 (186.^) (part). 



Mirafra horsfieldi, Sharpe, Oat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. XIII., p. 604 (1890). 



Adult niiLe,— General colour above dark broivn, ivith ashy-brown margins to all the feathers, 

 rufous in some specimens; upper wing-coverts and quills dark brown, broadly margined with rufous, 

 except on the outermost primaries ; tail-feathers blackish-brown, the central pair having ashy-hroivn or 

 rufoiis margins, the outermost feather on either side ivhite, except at the basal portion of the inner web, 

 the oiUer loeb of the penultimate feather white ; over the eye a distinct buff y -white stripe; ear-coverts 

 rufous, mottled with dark brown; chin and throat buffy-white, remainder of the under surface very 

 pale creamy-buff, the feathers on the fore neck and chest with triangular-shaped markings of dark 

 brown; under tail-coverts ])ale buff'. Total length in the fifsh oS inches, wing 2-S7, tail 1-9, bill 

 0-5, tarsus OSS. 



Adult femalr — Similar in plumage to the male, but slightly smaller. 



Distribution — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria. 



/~|^HE present species inhabits the eastern portion of the Australian continent, Gould 

 JL separating it from Mirafra javanica of Java, on account of its ashy-brown instead of 

 rufous margins to the feathers of the upper parts. There is, however, considerable variation in 

 specimens obtained in New South Wales, due, I believe, to the different seasons in which they 

 were procured. Adult examples now before me from Goulburn have the feathers of the upper 

 parts margined with ashy-brown, and which are much worn and abraded ; the under parts, too, are 

 very much paler and almost destitute of the triangular-shaped blackish-brown markings on the 



