Birds from British East Africa. 495 



The Athi Lark was obtained near the Athi River, at 

 Naivasha and on the Kapiti Plains : at the latter place it 

 ■was extremely abundant and a long series was obtained. 

 It was a conspicuous bird all over the plains round Kallima 

 Theki and Kapiti. At the beginning of April a nest was 

 found. This was placed in a slight depression of the 

 ground, partially concealed by a tuft of grass, and was 

 made of pieces of dead grass. It contained four young, 

 apparently only a few days old, one of which I took and 

 skinned. 



39. MiRAFRA ALBicAUDA. White-tailcd Lark. 

 Mirafra albicauda Reichen. 



Iris hazel ; bill dusky ; feet brown. 



Only one specimen of the White-tailed Lark was obtained, 

 and this was shot at Kallima Theki on April 8th ; I believe 

 it is distributed fairly commonly over the Kapiti Plains, and 

 probably I overlooked it. 



40. Mirafra fischeri. Fischer's Bush-Lark. 

 Mirafra fischeri Reichen. 



Iris brown ; upper mandible dark horn-coloured, lower 

 light brown ; legs brown. 



Fischer^s Bush-Lark was commonly distributed. It was 

 always heard in the early morning, when its extraordinary 

 rattle-like note was very audible. It flies up from the 

 ground and ascends into the air to a great height, frequently 

 out of sight, all the time uttering its muffled rattle; it 

 then suddenly descends almost to the ground and swerves 

 off for a considerable distance before alighting. 



41. Macronyx croceus. Yellow-breasted Lark. 

 Macronyx croceus (Vieill.). 



The Yellow-breasted Lark was extremely abundant all 

 round Kallima Theki. It was generally seen in pairs and was 

 very tame and confiding, flying up from the ground and 

 perching on the topmost twig of a small tree or bush, when 

 its bright yellow breast was very conspicuousj and it 

 continually uttered its short pleasant song. 



