WHITE-WINGED LARK. 645 



when spring comes to the locality ; for the hircl, though much 

 later in returning to its summer-quarters than the Skylark, 

 arrives in Southern Russia as soon as the grass of the open 

 districts it frequents is green. 



The adult male has the bill horn-coloured, darkest on the 

 culmen and inclining to yellow on the middle of the lower 

 mandible : irides brown : lores and sides of the head dull 

 white mottled with dusky, a clear white stripe over each eye ; 

 top of the head and ear-coverts dull chestnut, the latter 

 interspersed with white ; nape, mantle, back and upper tail- 

 coverts deep brown, each feather darkest along the shaft and 

 brownish-grey at the edges, especially on the nape and rump, 

 and tinged on the upper parts with rufous ; upper or least 

 wing-coverts chestnut, the next set dark brown at the base, 

 then chestnut, and whitish at the tip ; the coverts of the 

 secondaries very similar, but also bordered with reddish-grey, 

 those of the primaries chestnut with a dark brown patch on 

 the inner web ; the outer margin of the wings white ; pri- 

 maries blackish-brown, outwardly edged with dull white, the 

 fourth to the seventh of them being also broadly tipped with 

 buff, the eighth, ninth and tenth with nearly all the inner 

 web, and tip of the outer web, white ; secondaries white 

 with dark brown at the base ; tertials dark brown with light 

 rufous edges, and the longest with a white patch on the 

 outer web ; the middle pair of tail-feathers dark brown 

 broadly edged with rufous, the next three pairs blackish- 

 brown edged with white, the. second pair with the outer web 

 white, and the outer pair altogether white ; the chin, throat, 

 sides of the neck and lower parts generally white, with a 

 line of dusky arrow-headed spots running from the corner of 

 the gape on each side, spreading out on the foreneck and 

 breast, and on the sides of the latter mixing with some 

 rufous streaks ; sides of the body distinctly striped with dark 

 brown, the feathers immediately above the tarsus light 

 brown : legs, toes and claws bluish-grey. 



The whole length is about seven inches and a half, the 

 wing from the carpal joint to the tip about four inches and 

 five-eighths. 



