238 ALAUDID^. 



the hen her liberty. The cock I kept caged, and when three 

 years of age he liad attained to sucli a proficiency tliat, while 

 sitting in my room as he hung outside the window, I could 

 imagine the Nilghiri l^obin within a yard of tlie window, the 

 Common House-Sparrow actually on the A^indow-seat, the Black- 

 headed Tit-mouse on one of the flowering plants close by, the Kite 

 just flying over, the Hill Mynah on a large tree at a short distance, 

 the Yellow Wagtail just taking flight, and innumerable others, 

 all close at hand, all the notes being sung in rapid succession, and 

 amongst them occasionally would be the neighing of a horse 

 introduced, so correctly imitated that some who heard it have 

 doubted that it could be the bird till they had looked in vain for 

 the animal. 



" On the Nilghiris the Crown-crest generally builds, first in the 

 months of March and April, and again in August and Heptember. 

 They always construct their nest on the ground and beneath a tuft 

 of grass. They scratch a shallow round hole on the surface of the 

 ground, and lining it very neatly with fine grass seldom lay more 

 than two eggs, though I have occasionally found three in their 

 nests. Their ground-colour is a light yellowish brown with a pro- 

 fusion of dark spots, particulax'ly at the thickest end." 



Colonel E. A. Butler writes : — " Belgaum, 14th June, 1879. A 

 nest on the ground on the Eifle-ranges, consisting of a round deep 

 cup well sunk in the ground, and neatly and compactly built of 

 fine dry grass with two or three blades of the surrounding grass 

 growing over it, which partially concealed the contents. It was in 

 a very exposed situation, being actually on the Eange between the 

 firing-point and the target, and all of the bullets, when the men 

 were firing, must have passed close over the head of the bird when 

 sitting. The grass was only a few niches high at the time, and 

 consequently afforded very little cover. The eggs, three in 

 number and quite fresh, were greyish white, thickly speckled with 

 yellowish brown, greyish brown, and leaden blue, forming a dense 

 cap or zone at the large end." 



He adds : — " Mr. Davidson has sent me two eggs taken at 

 Sholapore in the Deccan, on the 15th and 30th August, 1877, 

 res])ectively." 



Mr. G. Vidal, C.S., writes from Eatnagiri : — " This Southern 

 Crested Lark breeds at Eatnagiri in October and November, after 

 the heavy rains have ceased. There is a rugged latcrite plateau of 

 considerable extent to the east of the station, where this species 

 is plentiful for the greater part of the year; this tableland is 

 entirely bare, and a])])ears as a huge sheet of fiat rock, the laterite 

 cropping to the surface everywhere. During the S.W. monsoon, 

 however, rank grass sprouts up wherever the crumbling surface 

 affords a hold for the roots — lilies, hardy creepers, and ferns shoot 

 up from the fissures in the rocks, and here and there coarse hill- 

 grains are sown in the least unpromising ])atches of ground. The 

 Crown-crests as a rule affect no concealment in their choice of a 

 site. A slight hollow in the bare ground or hard rock, either 



