202 Mr. r. N. Cliasen on the [Ibis, 



Galerida cristata. Crested Lark. 



The commonest Lark of the districts I visited and a 

 resident bird. No pronounced migration was notice 1, but a 

 good deal of local movement took place. In one case this local 

 movement was very decided — namely, the withdrawal of the 

 birds from their winter quarters {e.g.^ the interior of 

 the villages) in the early spring to the vicinity of their 

 breeding-grounds. In the winter small parties of from six 

 to twelve birds were met with in a variety of places. Unlike 

 many other species of birds they showed no extreme gre- 

 oarious habits in severe weather, and rarely more than a 

 dozen were seen together. Immediately the weather im- 

 proved the small flocks broke up, and signs of pairing were 

 evident at an early date. Indeed, a fair ])ercentage of birds 

 had remained in pairs all the winter. As early as 13 Feb- 

 ruary, one of these Larks was making a laudab'e attempt to 

 sine-. It was a sunny day and the blue sky was quite sj)i-ing- 

 like, but there was a bitter wind blowing that ruffled the 

 sonoster's plunuige to confusion as it sat on an old mud wall! 

 hi the villages they are fond of running about the rough 

 roads and rolling about in " sand-baths,*' their vigorous 

 actions in the^e raising little clouds of dust. 



Some bred on the level grountl near the liver. During 

 the breeding-season they were very tame^ running about in 

 the long grass about twelve feet away and only reluctantly 

 takiniT wing. Far more, however, nest on the hills, and in 

 favoured places 'a good many nests may be found in a' small 

 area. There were plenty of nests between Mirova and 

 Kurkut in June, but the most [)rolific district seems to have 

 been the country included by a radius of, say, four kilo- 

 metres from Karamatli. I saw eggs during the third anil 

 fourth week in June and first week in July, but lack of 

 observation is responsible for absence of earlier dates. Most 

 of these were placed in the middle of a tussock of grass and 

 stumbled iij-on when hunting for the eggs of Black-headed 

 Buntings. 1^'ive nests found in one day each contained 

 three eggs, but tliese may have been inconiplete clutches. 



