Upper wing-coverts and quills 
dark brown, with broad rufous 
margins. 
Ear-coverts deep rufous, with 
slight fulvous shaft-streaks. 
Cheeks and throat white, with 
a few black spots. 
Under surface of body isabel- 
line, with vinous tinge on flanks, 
breast broadly streaked with 
black. 
Under wing-coverts deep isa- 
belline vinous. 
ALMHMON 
NIVOSA. 501 
Upper wing-coverts and quills 
brown, broadly margined with 
pale sandy, shading off into white 
on the margins, 
Ear-coverts very pale sandy. 
Cheeks and throat pure white, 
unspotted. 
Under surface of body white, 
with a few triangular spots of 
dusky black on the breast. 
Under wing-coverts very pale 
isabelline sand colour. 
The male is larger than the female, measuring 0°9—0°95 inch in 
the bill, as against 0°75—0°8 in the female, and has the wing 4°1— 
4°4 as against 3°7—3°75 in the hen bird. 
Fig. Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. evi, fig. 2. 
502. Atmmon nivosa (Swains.) Cape Lark. 
Alauda codea, Smith: Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 209 (winter 
plumage). 
Megalophonus lagepa (Smith): Layard, t.c., p. 214 (summer 
plumage). 
Megalophonus guttatus, Bp. Layard, t.c., p. 45. 
This species differs from the foregoing one in its smaller size, and 
ashy brown under wing-coverts and quill-linings. The difference 
in the winter and summer plumages has caused considerable 
confusion in its names, but we believe that A. codea, M. lagepa, and 
M. guttatus of our first edition are all referable to one and the same 
species. 
Sir Andrew Smith states that it is generally, though sparingly, 
scattered over the Western Province, particularly in the Karroo, 
We have seen a specimen from the neighbourhood of Cape Town 
shot by Mr. Butler of the Cape Museum, and Mr. C. A. Fairbridge 
procured a single specimen on the Cape Flats, near Rondebosch. 
We found it plentiful at Nel’s Poort, in the Karroo: it first appeared 
in the neighbourhood of Beaufort. A single nest fell under our 
