512 Mr. H. P. Witherby on 



The onlv specimen in the British Museum of this beautiful 

 Lark has no exact locality on the label ; and Dr. Sharpe 

 described it as collected by Dr. Donaldson Smith on his 

 expedition to Lake Rudolph, giving no more exact locality. 



In coloration No. 115 agrees with Dr. Smith's specimen; 

 but No. 27 is decidedly paler on the upperside, and on the 

 underside including the under wing-coverts. The primaries 

 of this bird (27) are edged with w T hitc instead of chestnut, 

 but it is in somewdiat faded plumage, and Dr. Smith's bird 

 is freshly moulted. 



The wings measure : — No. 27, 86 mm. ; No. 115, 79 mm. ; 

 Dr. Smith's specimen, 86 mm. 



'' This bird is very shy. It does not fly much, but runs 

 with great celerity, and then squats under a bush until 

 danger is past. Its red plumage blends with the colour of 

 flic soil, so that it becomes almost invisible. It is found only 

 where the soil is brick-red, as on the Haud. It occasionally 

 gives forth a short weak song, uttered from the top of a low 

 bush. Nowhere a common bird, it is most numerous in the 

 Haud, and is occasionally seen near its northern and southern 

 borders. I have never seen more than one at a time." — 

 A. E. II. 



1 1. Certhilauda somalica. (Plate X.) 



Certhilauda somalica Witherby, Bull. B. O. C. vol. xiv. 

 ]>. 29. 



Unnumbered. <J . Dibbit, March 11, 1903. 



1 have already full}" described this Lark, which appears to 

 belong to a species very distinct from all others. 



Capt. Shelley considers that it should be placed in the 

 genus Mirafra, because its bill measures less than its middle 

 toe and claw (see Reichen. Yog. Afr. vol. iii. pt. i. p. 352, 

 footnote). 



I measure the bill from the base of the skull as 1 inch and 

 the middle toe and claw as '9 inch. Capt. Shelley perhaps 

 measures from the tips of the feathers to the tip of the bill. 



Taking Dr. Sharpens key to the genera of Larks in the 

 * Catalogue of Birds ' (vol. xiii. p. 512) as a guide, this bird 



