J\lr, A. Hiimf on Indian Ornithology. 405 



Alauda pispoletta and ALaudala raijtal; and as it is, I believe, 

 the species to which Adams refers (P. Z. S, 1858, p. 485) as 

 ''abundant on the banks of the Indus and Northern Scinde; 

 size of the Grey Linnet; colour a sandy brown; bill short and 

 nearly conical ; hind claw long and curved ; tail moderate and 

 slightly forked, the upper feathers of which are black," — I have 

 named it 



Alauda adamsi. 



This new species at a first glance so closely resembles Alau- 

 dala raytal that I had erroneously so named it ; but it differs in 

 a few particulars so conspicuously that no doubt as to its specific 

 distinctness can exist. In size and colour, and in most of its 

 variations of plumage it is, to judge from a series of more than 

 a dozen of each, absolutely undistinguishable from A. raytal. 

 But whereas the bill of the latter is more lengthened and slender 

 than those of the true Larks (measuring at front 0-5", not 0-38", 

 as Jerdon wrongly gives it), the bill of ^. adamsi is that of a 

 true Lark, never measuring in front more than 0'36". The bill 

 of the latter, besides being shorter, is much stouter and has the 

 culmen far more curved. It is brown too, bluish horny at base 

 of the lower mandible, and not pale yellowish horny with a faint 

 brownish tinge on the culmen as in A. raytal. The legs arc 

 fleshy brown, not yellowish fleshy as in the latter ; and the hind 

 claw (though not long, being about 0*34") is sliyhtly longer 

 than that of A. raytal. Jerdon gives the wing of the latter as 

 3" ; but none of my numerous specimens have it less than 3-15", 

 and it runs to 3'3". The wing of A. adamsi is perhaps a shade 

 longer, and varies from 3*2" to 3-4". The tail is " moderate and 

 slightly forked ; " but I see nothing of black upper feathers. 

 True, in certain stages of plumage the lateral tail-feathers nearest 

 the central ones are a very dark brown ; but this is also to a 

 certain extent the case with A. raytal. In this point alone does 

 my new bird differ from that noticed, but left unnamed, by 

 Adams. We have now a most interesting series of Old-Woi-ld 

 short-toed Larks — calendrella, brachydactyla, pispoletta, adamsi, 

 and Alaudala raytal. 



Whether the latter bird should really be gcnerically separated 



.SER. III. VOL. J. 2 F 



