S5 



inner margins of quills rufescent buff ; bill and feet dull 

 flesh-colour. Female similar, but slightly smaller. 

 Hab., Palestine to Egypt, Nubia and Abyssinia. 



Accordinrr to Von Heuglin tliis species is generally t«i 

 be mH with in pjiu-s along the border.s of the culti- 

 vat.pd land and tho dteert, often frequenting the cana\'aii 

 tracks and feeding on insects, corn, and tlie seeds of 

 ■de.oert planfis. The note is very itiisignificant, and the 

 bir<ls keep to the ground, only occasionally perching 

 on 'bushes. 



According to Shelley (" Birds of Africa," Vol. III., 

 p. 98 : — " They construct a neatly-formed nest of grass, 

 placed in a slight depression and sheltered by a tuft of 

 grass or a large stone, and lay four eggs. These are of 

 an ashy creami colour, obscurely marked with puTpli.sh 

 grey and more distinctly so with brown. They measure 

 0.9 in. X 0.6." 



Russ says that this bird arrives in the trade occa- 

 sionally in single specimens. 



Whitk-headed Bullfinch-Lark 

 ( Fi/rr/i II In 11(1 a vert ica lis) . 



Above ashy-grey mottled) with brown ; wing-coverts 

 brown with grey edges ; flights dark brown with grey 

 edges ; central tail-feathers pale brown with white 

 edges, the remainder dark bix>wn with grey edges, 

 excepting tlie outermost, which is white witili a ibrown 

 patch at base of inner web ; crown black ; centre of 

 ix:ciput, ear-coverts and na]>e white, 'behind which is a 

 black collar encircling the neck ; lores, front of cheeks, 

 throat and body lielow blackish-brown ; bill 'horn- 

 coloured ; feet dark flesh-coloured ; irides dark brown. 

 Female with the eyebi-ow and lores fcuffisli; throat and 

 under surface of body white tinged with rufous. Hab., 

 South Africa-, ranging to the Triuisvaal on tlie east and 

 the Congo on tiie west. 



Dr. Stark says (" Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., p. 

 196) : — " In Xoi-them Cape Colony these small Larks 

 congregate in considerable flix-ks during autumn and 

 winter, and usually keep to the open veldt, where they 

 Tun aibout on the ground in search of fallen grass-.seed'3 

 and small insects. If di.^turbed they fly for a short 

 distance, with undulating flight, and alight again 

 directly on the ground at no gi-eat distance. While 

 running about they frequently utter a shrill, but not 

 very loud, chirp. About the middle of August the 

 flocks break np and the birds separate in pairs, and 

 about a month later commence to build' their nests. 

 Some slight hollow is clio.^n by the side of a tuft of 

 grass; this is lined with fine dry grass, to which a few 

 horse-hairs ai-e occasionally added, and in ithis slight 

 nest two or three eggs are laid. Tliese are of a pale 

 cream-colour or dull white, laomewhat thickly spotted 

 all over witili two shades of pale amber brown. They 

 average 0.80 x 0.55." 



The London Zoological Society secured three examples 

 of this .species in September. 1873. Oddly enough Ruse 

 does not note tlie species, although lie describes many 

 species which have never been imported. 



AVniTE-CHEEKEn Bullfinch-Lark 

 (Pyrrhulaucht Iturutis). 



Upper back and scapulars cinnamon, some of the 

 feathers partly edge<l witih buff ; lower back and upper 

 tail-coverts buff, centres of feathers slightly asJiy ; 

 median and greater wing-coverts cinnamon with broad 

 tuff edgv-s ; flights dusky brown edged with rufous, 

 laost broadly on the inner secondaries ; tail-feathers 

 T^Iackish-brown, the central ones with pale rufous inner 

 •edges, the outer ones becoming dusky white on outer 

 webs and towards tihe tips ; head and neck black ; 



ear-coverts and a band cross'ing hind neck white; 

 throat and under .surface of body black ; a patch of 

 white and chestnut at sides of lower throat ; flanks and 

 thighs whitish; under wdng-coverte black ; flights dusky 

 brown below, with inner edges pa/i-tly ])ale rufescent 

 buff; bill ashy white; feet ashy; irides hazel. Female 

 with no bUick on head ; ear-coverts streaked with buff ; 

 under surfac-e buff, thickly mottled witii black down 

 throat and centre of breast ; axiUaries and most of under 

 wing-coverts black. Hab., South Africa north to 

 Damaraland on the west and over the eastern half of 

 Tropical Africa.— (Shelley). 



Dr. Sharpe regarded the southern examples as repre- 

 senting a distinct sub-species (P. smithii), but Captain 

 Shelley merely records it as a synonym of P- leucotis; 

 on the other hand, Messrs. Stark and Sclater follow 

 Dr. Sharpe. 



Dr. Stark says ("Birds of South Africa," Vol. I., 

 p. 197) : — " Very like P. verlicalis in its habits, but it 

 is usually in smaller flocks, numbering from ten to 

 forty or fifty individuals, and it is often found feed- 

 ing on the ground among dwarf bushes, while P. 

 vertlcalis keeps to more open country." 



Captain Shelley quotes the following, among other 

 notes on the habits ("Birds of Africa," Vol. III., pp. 

 88, 89, and 90) :— " Mr. Boyd Alexander . . . writes : 

 ' It frequents flat portions of stony gromid. In the 

 breeding-season the ma-le .sings on the wing, rising 

 vertically up fi'oni the ground, and descending to earth 

 again with hardly a beat of the wings. The call-note, 

 uttered on the ground, is a ventriloquial pipe.' 



" Living in colonies, these 'birds are continually shift- 

 ing from one locality to anothei-, according to the 

 siippl,v of food. At Zumbo they suddenly appeared on 

 December 13th, when the grain had just been sown. 

 The food consists chiefly of grass-seed. 



" Above Khartoum Mr. H. F. Witherby found these 

 Larks less numerous than P. frontalis, with which they 

 associated, and writes : ' On May 11 we found a nest 

 of this species in a small scooped-out hollow in the 

 caked mud amongst some very short burnt-up grass 

 near the rivei'. The nest, which was sheltered by a 

 large lump of mud, was a shallow " cup " composed 

 of dry grass and two or three bits of cotton. Round 

 the " cup " was a compact and neatl,v arranged la.ver 

 of particles of mud, perhaps made by the birds during 

 the formation of the hollow in the caked ground. The 

 nest contained one egg, from which the female flew 

 on our approach.' " 



Russ observes of typical P. leucotis that of late years 

 it has on several occasions been imported by Miss 

 Hagenbeck, Mr. Charles Jamrach, and certainly once 

 by smaller Hamburg dealers. It reached the Zoological 

 Gardens of Frankfort am Main in 1872, and those of 

 Hamburg in 1874, and he considers it unaccountable 

 that it should not have reached the London Gardens ; 

 in 1907. however. Mr. Setli-Smith presented an 

 example of P. smitliil to the London Zoological Society. 



PITTAS {Piltldcv). 



Formerly supposed to be related to the typical 

 Thrushes, but the late Profeissor Garrod proved them 

 to be allied to the New World birds placed hy him_ in 

 a section called Mesomyodi. They are birds of brilliant 

 colouring, of robust build, with short tails and long 

 legs, short rounded wings, and straight and tolerably 

 powerful bills. They run quickly on the ground, but 

 their flight is short and weak. For food they are said 

 to prefer grasshoppers, termites, and other insects, with 

 their larvee and pupse, and Gould thinks that probably 



