t^YR&HULAUDA. 193 



Le7igth.—6 to 6*25 inches, wing A, tail 2- 75, bill at front 0-56. 



Hab. — Sind, Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Beloochistau, Arabia, Southern 

 Persia, Afghanistan, Cashmere, Southern and Eastern Europe and 

 N. E. Africa. Extremely common in Sind on the bare stony hills and 

 plains. 



Gen. Pyrrhulauda. — Smith. 



Bill short, very stout, sides compressed; culmen arched; commis- 

 sure straight] wings long; tei*tiaries lengthened ; 1st primary small ; 

 tail moderate ; toes small. 



Pyrrhulauda grisea, Sdop.; Son. Voy. t. 113, 2* Jerd. B. Ind. 

 ii. p. 424, Nok 760; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 212 ; id. vol. vii. p. Q>Qi Gray, 

 Handlist B^ No. 7834; Murray, Hdbk., ZooL, Sfc, Sind, p. 186. 

 Pyrrhulauda crucigera, Tem. PL Col. 269, 1. — The Black-bellied 

 Finch-Lark* 



Male. — 'Forehead and cheeks white, or fulvous white; crown of the 

 head, back, scapulars^ rump and upper tail-coverts grey brown, with 

 a slight tinge of rufescent on the back, the feathers centred dusky ; 

 cheeks whitish ; primaries, secondaries and wing-coverts brown, the 

 feathers edged paler } chin, throat, breast, sides of the neck and 

 entire lower surface black, the flanks and sides of breast and abdomen 

 greyish white ; bill pale brown ; legs fleshy ; irides dark brown. 



Length.-^4-76 to 5 inches, wing 3, tail 2, bill at front 0-37. The 

 Female is readily distinguishable by the absence of the black under 

 surface and a more rufescent tinge on the upper 



l£ah.-^S'md, Punjab, H. W. Provinces, Oudh, Bengal, Kutch, Kattia- 

 Waf, Rajputana (Jeypore and Jodhpore) N. Guzerat, Ooncan, Deccan, 

 Central and South India. Affects open plains and ploughed lands. 



Pyrrhulauda melanauchen, Ga.h. Mus. Hem. i. p. 124 ; Finsch. 



Trans. 2^ool. 8ocy. viii p. 275, pi. xxvi.; Gray, Handlist Birds. Noi 

 7837; Blf. East Pefs. ii. p. 246. Pyrrhulauda affinis, Blythjbis. 1867^ 

 p. 185 ; Hume, Str. F. i. p. 212 ; id. vii. p. G6 ; Murray, Hdbk., Zool.j 

 ^c, Sind, p. 186i 



" The male has a broad frontal band, cheeks, ear-coverts and a band 

 from these round the base of the occiput and a large patch on either 

 side of the br'east. White; in the case of the two latter often tinged 

 brownish. 



" The base of the lower mandible, chin, thfoat, central portion of breast, 

 abdomen, vent, and lower tail-coverts, axillaries and wing lining (except 

 lower primary greater coverts, which ai^e pale grey brown like the 

 lower surface of the quills) intensely deep, at times somewhat sooty, at 

 times almost chocolate-brown ; the crown and upper part of occiput 

 are deep brown, never quite so intense as the lower parts, often 

 considerably lighter, and more purely brown; the anterior portion 

 of the side of the neck behind the lower half of the ear-coverts is 

 always like the breast, sometimes the deep colour of these parts extends 

 behind the whole of the ear-coverts, and right round the back of the 

 neck, forming a collar immediately behind the white basal occipital 

 25 z 



