Ornithulogy of Northern Africa. 427 



marked it following the labourers in a barley patch, after the 

 manner of a rook. It appears to be confined to those districts 

 where there is water and cultivation. I was not fortunate 

 enough to meet with it in the breeding-season. I presume that 

 this is the species catalogued, but not described, by Captain 

 Loche as Galerida randonii, as I first drew his attention to the 

 bird as new, and supplied him with specimens in 1857. 



86. Certhilauda duponti (Vieill.) ; Bp. Consp. Av. p. 24-6. 

 (Dupont's Lark.) 



This elegant and delicately marked bird — a link between Gale- 

 rida and Certhilauda, beautifully illustrative of the gentle grada- 

 tions by which Nature glides from one type to another — is, I 

 believe, the very rarest of all the Larks of the Sahara, I found 

 it only in the far south, in the Wed N9a, at which place it 

 was also obtained by Captain Loche a few months afterwards. 

 Neither of us ever saw more than two or three pairs. The 

 white outer tail-feathers give it the appearance at first sight of 

 our common Skylark, for which indeed it passed with my com- 

 panion, who was the first to shoot it. Captain Loche obtained a 

 nest of four eggs, one of which he kindly presented to me. As 

 might have been expected, the eggs difier much from the typical 

 characteristics of the Lark. They are very round, 9i lines by 8, 

 of a soiled white colom*, with pale brown blotches sparsely scat- 

 tered over the surface, bearing a strong resemblance to small 

 varieties of Lanius excubitor, but with an ivory polished surface. 



87. Certhilauda desertorum (Stanley) : Bp. Consp. Av. 

 p. 246. (Bifasciated Lark.) 



Universally distributed throughout the whole of the true 

 Desert. Unlike its congeners, it seems to be a most solitary 

 bird, and seldom, except in the breeding-season, have I seen 

 even two together. But a day rarely occurred when we did not 

 obtain a few specimens on the march ; and indeed this game 

 formed our principal and favourite animal food. Although its 

 uniform of inconspicuous drab renders it most difficult of detec- 

 tion on the ground, its restless habits soon attract attention. 

 The moment it extends its wings, the broad black bar across the 

 snow-white secondaries attracts the eye and renders it an easy 



