CERTHILAUDA CAPENSIS. 29 



brown with pale edges to the feathers ; tail square and entirely brown with 

 paler edges to the feathers ; sides of head brown mottled with butf, and a 

 broad buff eyebrow extending from the nostril to the nape. Under parts 

 buffy white with dark brown shaft-stripes to the feathers, excepting to those 

 of the chin, centre of abdomen, thighs and centre of under tail-coverts. 

 " Iris dark brown ; bill yellowish brown ; legs and toes clear buffy orange 

 tinted with flesh red; claws yellowish brown" (Sir A. Smith). Total 

 length 8-1 inches, culmen l-l, wing 4-1, tail 2-9, tarsus 1-25. Natal 

 (Seebohm Coll.). 



The Cape Long-billed Lark inhabits Cape Colony and 

 Natal. According to tlie late Sir AndreAV Smitb, " Specimens 

 of this species abound in the immediate vicinity of Cape Town, 

 and are partial to localities whose soil is loose and sandy. 

 They seek their food among the brushwood with which the 

 parts they inhabit are generally more or less covered ; and 

 when not so occupied, are fond of resting upon small hillocks 

 or even upon the tops of shrubs." Layard writes : " The 

 chief distinguishing character of the present species is the 

 absence of white tips to the tail-feathers. It is common in 

 most parts of the colony, as we have received it from all our 

 correspondents. It frequents the sandy Cape Flats, the corn- 

 lands of Malmesbury, the uplands of Caledon, and the grassy 

 plateaux of the Knysna. It never congregates in flocks, rarely 

 more than two being found within a certain range. Its food 

 consists of insects and seeds. It constructs a cup-shaped nest 

 of hair and grasses, lined with feathers, under the shelter of 

 a bush or stone ; the eggs, generally three in number, are 

 dirty white, faintly and minutely specked with light brown : 

 axis 0'9, diameter 075 inch. Some specimens run much 

 darker than others. Mr. Grurney records a specimen from 

 Natal in one of Mr. Ayres' early collections from that colony, 

 but we have never seen a specimen from that country." In 

 the British Museum there is a specimen from Natal. 



According to Stark, this species is more abundant on the 

 Cape Flats and in the western districts of Cape Colony than 



