PYRRIIULAUDA. 245 



others which I have seen on the lake-edge escaped being squashed 

 by the thousands of bullocks and camels which are continually 

 passing and repassing. 



" The eggs are pale yellowish green in colour, and covered with 

 very miuute specks of various shades of l)rown. 



" I may add that I took a nest of this species iu Oudh on the 

 4th Mav. It contained two eggs.*' 



Froui Eai])oor Mr. F. E. Blewitt writes :— " This Finch-Lark 

 breeds, according to locality, from the middle of ]\Iarch to at least 

 the middle of August, as I had three fresh eggs brought me on the 

 oth of that month at Saugor. In a slight hollow in the ground a 

 somewhat compact nest is prepared of fine grass and roots. The 

 shelter of a clod of earth or low bush is often preferred for the 

 nest. Thi'ee is the largest number of eggs I have seen. Its habits 

 are correctly stated by Dr. Jerdon, but I have never yet seen 'large 

 flocks ' of the bird in the cold season, or indeed at any other time. 

 I have occasionally met with a dozen or two together, either on a 

 road or a favourite feeding-ground. During the breeding-season 

 the male bird does occasionally, as I have witnessed, ' sing in the 

 air like a Lark with expanded wings ' for a minute or two. It is 

 common in both the Sumbulpoor and Eaipoor Districts." 



Mr. A. Gr. E. Theobald remarks : — " I found a nest of this species 

 at Salem on the 21st August. It was merely a small circular 

 cavity in a bare open field, lined with a little fine dry grass. In 

 contained three eggs." 



Lieutenant Burgess tells us that " this little bird breeds in 

 "Western India, during th<^ months of January and February, 

 building its nest in a hollow in the grassy plains which it 

 inhabits." 



Mr. E. Aitken tells me that " in Poena it builds all over the 

 rocky plains in the cold season. I have found eggs on the 24th 

 December and on the 12th February. The nests I have seen have 

 always been beside a stone or sheltered by some little plant, and 

 consisted of an oval-shaped hollow in the ground, lined neatly with 

 grass. I have found a single egg in a nest, half hatched ; but at 

 other times always two. I have seen the male incubating the 

 eggs." 



Dr. Jerdon recorded long ago that he " obtained the nest and 

 eggs in February. The nest was composed of woven thread, 

 mingled with some fibres of grass and one or two small fragments 

 of cloth. The sides are hardly raised at all ; it was placed in a 

 slight hollow on the open plain, near a river, and contained two 

 eggs of a slight greenish-grey tint, spotted with brown chiefly at 

 the larger end." 



A nest was found at Kurachi on the 22nd April with two fresh 



eggs. 



Colonel Butler writes : — " I found a nest of the Black-bellied 

 Finch-Lark at Deesa on the 19th October, containing two incu- 

 bated eggs. The nest consisted of a neat but loosely made pad of 

 dry grass and Calotro2ns-do\vn, placed under a small tussock of grass 



