624 ALAUDID^. 



primary-coverts and quills dusky brown, -with clearer rufous 

 margins, the primaries and inner secondaries more ashj' on the 

 edges ; tail-feathers blackish brown with ashy-fulvous edges, the 

 outer tail-feather rufesccut along its outer margin, except at the 

 tip, a shade of rufous also pervading the inner web ; head with 

 a median crest, the feathers like the back, black with edgings of 

 sandy buff: a broad whitish eyebrow extending to the sides of the 

 nape and becoming tinged with vinous buif ; lores and feathers 

 below the eye whitish ; ear-coverts pale brown, dark brown along 

 the upper edge ; cheeks white, with a blackish line across them 

 below the eye ; throat ashy white, with a malar line of black ; 

 fore neck and chest ashy, thickly mottled with black spots and 

 central streaks, some of which have a lateral tawny shade ; sides of 

 body and flanks washed with tawny buff, and narrowly streaked 

 with dark brown ; under wing-coverts and axillaries tawny buff, 

 with dusky brown bases to the feathers ; quills dusky brown below, 

 rufescent along the inner web : " bill flesh-colour, paler at the base 

 of the lower mandible ; feet reddish ; iris dusky " {Emin Fasha). 

 Total length 5-8 inches, culmen 0-45, wing 3-3, tail 1-85, tarsus 0"8. 

 Adult female. Similar to the male in colour : "bill blackish horn- 

 colour, the base of the mandible paler ; feet fleshy ; iris dusky " 

 (Emin Pasha). Total length 5-3 inches, culmen 0-5, wing 3*], 

 tail I'S, tarsus 0-8. 



After examining the series of HeJiocorys modesta sent by Emin 

 Pasha, and comparing with it an authenticated specimen of Mirafra 

 hucolica of Hartlaub in the Shelley collection from Kuderma (spec. 6 

 of Hartlaub's' Dritter Beitrag'), I have no hesitation in stating that 

 M. hucolica is specifically identical with H. modesta. The supposed 

 differences in size are, in my opinion, merely due to sex, the male 

 being, as in most Larks, larger than the female ; and the differences 

 in plumage are merely due to season. Thus the specimens obtained 

 in November are still in tolerably fresh plumage, in December they 

 are much worn, in February the feathers are very much the worse 

 for wear, and in May they are fresh moulted, and become M. hucolica 

 of Hartlaub : they are then much more tawny by reason of the greater 

 breadth of the pale edgings to the feathers. Similarly the black 

 spots on the chest are more concealed in the winter plumage by 

 reason of the pale edges, and are much plainer in the nesting-plumage, 

 when these pale edges get worn off. The species, moreover, is not a 

 true Mirafra, having neither the bill, the nostrils, nor the hind claw 

 of that genus, nor do I consider it a true Galerita, but it is nearer 

 to the latter genus than to Mircfra, 

 Hah. Equatorial Africa. 



a. S ad. sk. Kuderma, Nov. 14 (EmiJi Pasha). Shelley Coll. 



h. 5 ad. sk. Tamaja, Nov. 3 (Emin). Shelley Coll. 



c, d,e.cS;f- $ Kedjaf, Nov. to Feb. Emiu Pasha [P.]. 



ad. sk. 



g. S ad. sk. Tobbo, May 16. Emin Pasha [P.]. 



