CRESTED LARK. 635 



Germany it is a constant frequenter of the roadways, and 

 most common near the villages. Thence it extends through 

 Livonia and Estonia and has been obtained at least twice 

 on the south coast of Finland, but in Russia it is only 

 occasionally observed so far to the north as Moscow, and 

 does not appear to occur at Orenburg, though plentiful 

 further south. From the Ural it may be traced across the 

 Kirgis Steppes to Mongolia and China. It is also found in 

 India, being most abundant in the north and north-west, 

 and returning westward it inhabits Beloochistan, Persia, 

 Arabia, the highlands of Abyssinia, Kordofan, and Egypt 

 of course. Thence it may be followed through Tripoli, 

 Algeria and Morocco back to Western Europe, while 

 within the circuit thus drawn it occurs generally with 

 greater or less frequency. Wherever it approaches the bor- 

 ders of the desert country, a pale-coloured form appears 

 which is commonly recognized as a good species under the 

 name of Galcrita isahellina, and a second form, larger and 

 with a more powerful bill, the G. macrorhyncha of Canon 

 Tristram, is also found along the northern edge of the 

 Sahara; but it must be confessed that so much do Larks 

 generally, and those of this group certainly not excepted, 

 vary according to locality, not merely in colouring but in 

 features which among most birds are accounted good diag- 

 nostic characters, that it is quite a matter of opinion whether 

 the two forms just named, as well as some others, should 

 not be regarded as specifically identical with Alaiula cristata. 

 The typical form however seems to be the only one which 

 inhabits any part of Europe except Portugal and Spain, 

 where a second which has received the name of Galerita 

 thecla is also found. 



The bill is brown along the ridge and at the point, but 

 paler on the sides and at the base : irides hazel : the crown of 

 the head reddish-brown, with a few feathers elongated, form- 

 ing a conspicuous crest ; from the eye passing over the ear- 

 coverts a streak of huffy- white ; ear-coverts and back of the 

 neck dark brown ; back, wing-coverts and wings, brown, the 

 shaft and middle of each feather dark brown ; the wing- 



