Ornithology of the Egyptian Soudan. 307 



birds congregate in immense quantities along the White Nile 

 at Khartoum before departing north. I have not noticed 

 them myself before October. I have seen examples of this 

 speciesas far south as Meshra-el-Rek, on the Bahr-el-Ghazal 

 (March 8, 1902;. 



13. Alv.mon alaudipes (Desf.). 



a. $ ; b. ? ; c. £ ; d. <J jr. ; e. $ jr. Omdurman, 

 Nov. 28, 1902. 

 ,/'. $; g. 2; h. ? . Khartoum, Dec. 12, 1902. 



This tine Lark is tolerably common near Khartoum 

 and Omdurman, though it keeps very much to particular 

 spots, and it is necessary to know where to look for it. 

 The following note is from my diary : — " Went over to 

 Omdurman with D.-1I. to look lor this Lark. The 

 desert here is of quite a different nature from that on 

 the Khartoum side of the river, with a hard, very level, 

 dark, gravelly surface. We first came on a single bird, a 

 male, which I shot. Subsequently we met with at least 

 twenty individuals in fairly close company, but mostly 

 keeping in pairs. The birds run very swiftly, their 

 little feet twinkling under them like a Courser's ; their 

 flight is very undulating, the white on the wings shewing 

 conspicuously. They were frequenting some mud-ruins, 

 on the low walls of which they settled constantly. 

 They were very tame and confiding." 



1 have also seen the bird on the softer, dustier desert 

 behind Khartoum ; this, however, is by no means, like 

 Omdurman, a sure find. 



The extent of the black bar across the secondaries 

 varies considerably. 



Among the specimens recorded above : — 



a ( (J ad.) had the secondaries barred right across, but 

 the bar was interrupted at the shaft, occurring on the outer 

 web in the shape of an oval mark, edged with buff on the 

 margin of the feather. 



b ( $ ). Secondaries barred across the outer web only ; 

 inner web white. 



