308 



ALAUDIDjE. 



thistle field. They were very plentiful near the Fitzroy River Telegraph Station, and at Mount 

 Campbell, where they were found breeding in February. Their nests are usually placed near a 

 small tussock of grass, or in a slight hollow formed by the pressure of a horse's foot ; the material 

 used to line them is fine grass." 



A set of four eggs taken by Mr. Keartland in February, 1897, are oval in form, the shell 

 being close-grained, smooth and lustrous. They are of a pale yellowish-grey ground colour, 

 thickly covered with numerous freckles of yellowish-brown, intermingled with faint underlying 

 dots of slaty-grey, and measure as follows : — Length (A) o-8 x 0-57 inches; (B) 075 x 0-55 

 inches; (C) 077 x 0-57 inches; (D) 077 x 0-57 inches. A set taken by Mr. W. White 

 at the Reed beds, near Adelaide, South Australia, on the 5th November, 1892, are of a greyish- 

 white ground colour, which is thickly mottled all over with brownish-grey markings: — Length 

 (A) o-8i X 0-56 inches; (6)0-82 x o'55 inches; (C) 078 x 0-57 inches. There is nothing to 

 distinguish the eggs of Mirafra senmda from those of M. horsfieldi ; eggs of the former, however, 

 taken in North-western Australia, are the most lustrous I have seen of any species. 



As will be seen from the preceding notes, the Rufous-winged Bush Lark is, like its ally, 

 also a late breeder, November and the three following months constituting its breeding season. 



Mirafra woodwardi. 



WOODWAED'S BUSH LARK. 

 Mirafra tooodwardi, Milligan, Vict. Nat., Vol. XVIII., p. 26 (1901). 



Adult ViXhli.— General colour above cinnamon, with indistinct brotvn centres to the feathers 

 which are almost invisible on the hind neck; ivings cinnamon, showing brotvn centres to all the quills 

 when spread, except on the innermost secondaries ; tail feathers cinnamon with brown centres, the 

 lateral feathers white, tvashed tvith cinnamon, the penultimate feathers broadly margined with brown 

 on the inner web; forehead, crown of head, nape and sides of head cinnamon with indistinct brownish 

 centres to the feathers on the crown of the head; throat white, washed with chmamon, remainder of 

 the under surface and under tail-coverts pale cinnam.on; "bill fleshy-horn colour; legs and feet fleshy 

 colour; iris hazel" (Carter). Total length oS inches, wing 2-95, tail 2-1, bill 0-45, tarsus 0-65. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male ; in some speciinens having larger and darker 

 centres to the feathers of the upper parts. 



Distribution — North-western Australia. 

 /"l^HE above description of the adult male is taken from a fine old specimen procured by 

 -L Mr. Tom Carter on the 24th August, 1901, at Point Cloates, North-western Australia, 

 and subsequently presented by him to the Trustees of the Australian Museum. It differs from 

 all other specimens in the collection, by its almost uniform and darker cinnamon colour. 

 Specimens were also received from Mr. H. L. White, of Belltrees, Scone, New South Wales. 

 They were collected for him by Mr. F. Lawson Whitlock, on the De Grey River, North-western 

 .'Vustralia, in October, 1908, and the adult males are similar to the latter specimen. Collected in 

 the same month and in the same locality are undoubted specimens of Mirafi'a secunda, and 

 distinguished only from examples of this species, procured by Dr. W. A. Angove at Tea-tree 

 Gully, near Adelaide, South Australia, by the more pronounced cinnamon coloured margins to 

 the feathers of the upper parts. Another adult male procured on the 30th October, 1901, and 

 presented at the same time, is much paler and has larger and darker brown centres to the feathers 

 of the upper part, and the lateral tail feathers are white with a \ery faint and almost imperceptible 

 cinnamon wash. 



Mr. Tom Carter, while resident at Point Cloates, North-western Australia, presented skins 

 of this species to the Trustees of the Australian Museum, and subsequently sent me the following 



