404 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



coverts ; primaries and tail deep brown, fringed with rufous ; 

 chin whitish ; all the under surface deep fawn-colour ; irides 

 yellowish brown. 



Total length 6 J inches ; bill ^f ; wing 3 ; tail 3 ; tarsi 1. 



Genus MIRAFRA, Horsfield. 



One, if not two, species of this well-defined genus inhabit 

 Australia. At present one only has been characterized ; but 

 the bird of this form, frequenting the intertropical portions of 

 the country, may prove to be a distinct species. 



Sp. 248. MIRAFRA HORSFIELDII, Gould. 



Horsfield's Bush-Lark. 

 Mirafra Horsfieldii, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, part xv. p. 1. 



Mirafra Horsfieldii, Gould, Birds of Australia, foL, vol. iii. pi. 77. 



This species, which I have named horsfeldii after the 

 founder of the genus, is sparingly dispersed over all the 

 plains and open districts of New South Wales, but is more 

 abundant on the inner side of the mountain ranges towards 

 the interior than between the ranges and the sea ; I have also 

 a specimen procured during Dr. Leichardt's overland expedi- 

 tion from Moreton Bay, and one from the neighbourhood of 

 Port Essington : both of these, although possessing characters 

 common to each other, differ from specimens obtained in New 

 South Wales in being larger, redder in colour, and in having 

 a stouter bill — features which will probably hereafter prove 

 them to be distinct, and which exhibit a near alliance to the 

 Mirafra javanica. 



The bird here described is from New South Wales, where 

 I found it more abundant on the Liverpool Plains than else- 

 where ; I also met with solitary individuals in the district of 

 the Upper Hunter. 



In its habits it is more terrestrial than arboreal, and will 



