422 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Tuii KUFOUS-TAILED FlNCH-LAUK. 



Descr. — Plumage above ashy brown with a rufescent tinge ; rump, 

 base of tail, the innev webs of the quills, and the tail-feathers, 

 dark rufous or didl ferruginous ; the quills and tip of the tail dark 

 brown ; lower parts the same ferruginous hue, but paler on the 

 throat and lower tail-coverts, and with a few dusky streaks on 

 the breast ; extremity of the lower tail-coverts with a dusky spot. 



Bill horny brown above, fleshy at the base beneath ; legs fleshy ; 

 irides brown. Lengtli 6^ inches ; wing 4^^^ ; tail 2^^^ ; bill nt 

 front -f\j ; tarsus -{'^ ; hind toe and claw y^. 



The Rufous-tailed Lark is found tln-oughout the southern part of 

 India, as far North, at all events, as the Nerbudda on the West, more 

 rare however towards the North. I have seen it North of the Ner- 

 budda, at Mhow and Saugor, but rare ; and Tickell appears to 

 have met with it in Central India. It is unknown on the Malabar 

 Coast, in Bengal and in the N. W. Provinces. It is most abun- 

 dant in the bare table-land of the Deccan, frequenting open plains, 

 ploughed lands, stubble fields, and dry beds of rivers. It frequent- 

 ly ascends suddenly in the air by a few interrupted strokes of its 

 wings, and uttering at the same time a pleasant loud whistling 

 note, something like too-whee ; it then descends with a sudden fall, 

 changing its note to a low lark-like warbling ; wdien close to the 

 ground, it again repeats this, and so on for several times. It 

 occasionally, though very rarely, perches on low trees or bushes. 

 It feeds on seeds of various kinds, and hard insects ; and it makes 

 its nest on the ground, of grass and other light material, generally 

 under the shelter of a clod of earth, or tuft of grass, laying three 

 or four eggs, dirty greenish-white, with numerous small brown 

 spots. It breeds about Jaulnah in February and March. Tickell 

 found it breedino- In Central India in June. 



759. Ammomanes lusitanica, Gmelin. 



Alauda, apud Gmelin — A. deserti, Lighten. — A, isabcllina, 

 Temm, pi. Col. 244. f. 2.--^ Gould, Birds of Europe, pi. 1G3— 

 Mirafra phaenicuroides, Blytii. — Horsf., Cat. 723. 



