Ornithology of the Egyptian Soudan. •';<>'.> 



17. MlRAFRA ALBICAUDA Reicheil. 



a. (J. Gedaref, April 27, 1901. 



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c. S • „ May 18, 1903. 



The White-tailed Bush-Lark is common on the plains 

 all round Gedaref, in the Kassala Province. On the 

 White Nile, Mr. Hawker obtained it between Kaka and 

 Fashoda ; further south I saw it on the Bahr-el-Ghazal 

 in March 1902. A dark-plumaged bird, it belongs 

 entirely to the districts of black cotton-soil, away from 

 which I have never seen it. Round Gedaref it was often 

 in company with .1/. cantillans. Like that species it soars 

 high and sings beautifully. It has a habit, especially at 

 the first signs of dawn, of rising a short distance into the 

 air and making a very curious purring or drumming 

 noise with its wings. Pease (' Ibis/ 1901, p. 629) attributes 

 a similar habit to M. fischeri in Abyssinia, describing the 

 sound as a muffled rattling. My specimen c, shot in May, 

 was in breeding-condition. 



18. Gale rita cristata (Linn.). 



a. ? . Assouan (Egypt), Jan. 27, 1901. 



b. ? . Khartoum, Feb. o, 1902. 



c. ? . „ Feb. 1903. 



d. (?. „ Dec. 22, 1902. 



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The Crested Lark, though extending west into Kordofan, 

 generally keeps in touch with cultivation and water, and 

 cannot be described as a desert species. It is abundant 

 all along tbe Nile to Khartoum ; it follows the Blue Nile 

 up to Wad Medani, or a little beyond, but does not, I 

 think, reach the more wooded country further up that 

 river; it extends into Western Kordofan, but in that thirsty 

 land keeps to the vicinity of wells ; it becomes gradually 

 scarcer south of Khartoum, apparently not following the 

 White Nile for more than 200 miles, if as much. 



If, with such a species as this, one is to recognise as sub- 

 species forms which, though based mainly on geographical 



