644 Col. R. Meinertzhagen on Birds from [Ibis, 



This excellent race from eastern Persia is easily recognized 

 from cavtarella or cinerascens by its paler and redder colour; 

 in fact it is merely a pale but large A. a. arvensis, and is 

 not a gi'ey but a red bird in autumn plumage. I shot a 

 male at the south end of the Sea of Galilee on 3. iii. with a 

 wing of 119 mm. Four birds in the Tring Collection from 

 eastern Persia have wings from 115 to 122 mm. It is the 

 exception to find cinerascens or cantarella with wings over 

 115 mm. 



Alauda arvensis cantarella. 



Alauda cantarella Bonaparte, 1832 : Central Italy. 



Similar to Alauda c arvensis, but lacks the redder feather 

 edgings on the upper parts of the latter and is also much 

 whiter belou . The featlier edgings are, however, browner 

 (not so grey) as in cinerascens. 



To this race I can only assign birds from Italy, Sardinia, 

 Corsica, and Sicily. I have not seen typical birds from 

 elsewhere. I have not examined breeding birds from Greece 

 or the Balkans. Stresemann (Avif. Macedon. p. 66) refers 

 all Balkan birds to this race, but as he has not compared his 

 specimens uith birds from the typical locality, his remarks 

 are not very helpful. 



Alauda arvensis arvensis L. 



The typical race of the Sky-Lark seems to be confined in 

 its breeding haunts to the British Islands, Scandinavia, 

 Denmark, and central Europe generally. 



Alaemon alaudipes alaudipes (Desf.). 



I obtained a male in September in the Syrian Desert 

 40 miles east of Damascus, which appears to be a new 

 locality. It is identical with Egyptian and Saharan birds. 



I found this bird common in western Egypt about Mer^a 

 Matruh, Solium, and on the desert between Siwa and Solium 

 in January. 



It is also a locally common resident in northern Sinai 

 west to the Suez Canal and east to El Arish. 



