BIRDS OF ETHIOPIA AND KENYA COLONY 19 



cantillans and makes a purring or drumming noise with its wings 

 when in flight, like that produced by the flappet lark {M. fischeri). 

 A specimen shot at Gedaref on May 18 was in breeding condition. 

 Van Someren found this bird breeding in May and July on the 

 Kapiti Plains.^* 



MIRAFRA CANDIDA Fried mann 



Mirafra Candida Fkikdmann, Auk, vol. 47, p. 418, 1930 : Northern Guaso Nyiro 



River, Kenya Colony. 

 Specimens collected: 1 adult male, 1 immature male, 1 immature female. 



Northern Guaso Nyiro River, Kenya Colony, August 2-3, 1912. 



The adult is the type of this species. 



This richly colored lark is closel}'^ allied to Mirafra cantillans 

 margrinata, but inasmuch as the two occur and appear to breed in the 

 same places, the present form must be considered specifically distinct 

 from the latter. The color of the dorsal surface of the adult 

 Candida is a deep, somewhat brownish-purple shade of rufous, and 

 is not earth brown and grayish black like marginata. The present 

 species has no grayish or true blackish marks on it, the dark centers 

 of the crown feathers being fuscous-brown, those of the black 

 feathers deep chocolate-brown with lighter borders. 



The young birds resemble the corresponding plumage stage of 

 M. cantillans marginata^ but are much more rufescent on the wings, 

 nape, and upper back. 



Nothing is known of the habits of this lark. The adult is molt- 

 ing the remiges, a sure sign that it was past the breeding season 

 when it was collected. 



M. Candida is known so far only from the type locality. 



Lest it be thought that this species or M. pulpa is really the same 

 as M. meruensis Sjostedt,^^ it may be said that the description of 

 the latter form (considered by Sclater a synonym of schiUingsi) 

 does not fit either 'pul'pa or Candida. 



MIRAFRA HYPERMETRA GALLARUM Hartert 



Mirafra hypermefra gallarum Habtert, Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 19, p. 84, 



1907: Bouta, Hawash Valley. 

 Specimens collected: 



1 male, Gada Bourca, Ethiopia, December 24, 1911. 



4 males, Iron Bridge, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 4-6, 1912. 



2 males, Hawash River, Ethiopia, February 8, 1912. 



This, the largest of all the species of its genus, is found in eastern 

 Africa from the Hawash Valley and Shoa in Ethiopia, south to the 



"Nov. ZooL, VOL 37, p. S.'^S, 1932. 



15 Wissenschaf tliche Ergebnisse der schwedischen zoologischen Expedition nach deni 

 Kilimandjaro . . . Deutsch-Ostafrika, 1905-6, etc., vol. 3, Vogel, p. 137. 1910. 



