MIRAFRA APIATA 41 



Kibaradja in November, and other specimens in the Pare 

 mountains. He found the species not uncommon amongst the 

 scattered acacia bushes between this range of mountains and 

 the Pangani river, and recognised his Meijalophunus 'inasnaicns, 

 founded on a specimen from Little Arusha, not to be specifi- 

 cally distinct. In British East Africa Dr. Ansorge has 

 procured specimens at Kinani and the Tsavo river, and Dr. 

 Abbott others to the south and east of the Kilimanjaro 

 mountain. 



Mirafra apiata. 



Alauda apiata, Vieill. N. Diet. H. N. i. p. 343 (1816) S. Afr. 



Mirafra apiata, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 598 (1890) 6Vy;c Col. ; Shelley, 



B. Afr. I. No. 196 (1896) ; Nehrkoni, Kat. Eiers. p. 134, ajij ; Stark, 



Paun. S. Afr. B. i. p. 217 (1900). 

 Alauda clamosa, Steph. Gen. Zool. xiv. p. 23 (1826) S. Afr. 



Adult. Above rufous or brown washed with pale grey, the feathers with a 

 variable amount of narrow black bars and rarely any trace of shaft-stripes ; 

 upper tail-coverts reaching three quarters of the way down the tail and are 

 crossed by sis black bars and have greyish buff edges. Tail with the two 

 centre feathers barred and very hke the upper tail-coverts in colour and 

 pattern ; remainder blackish, partially washed with grey and surrounded by a 

 buff margin which extends over almost the whole of the outermost web on 

 each side, the other feathers with narrow grey edges. "Wing with the coverts 

 and inner secondaries much like the back, but the latter have partial bars and 

 a submarginal dark line more strongly marked ; remainder of the quills and 

 the primary-coverts uniform brown with pale rufous shaded outer edges 

 to all but the first two primaries ; these rufous edges are mostly notched 

 with the dark brown of the outer part of the feathers ; under wing-coverts 

 pale cinnamon ; under surface of quills entirely dark brown with only a 

 light wash of rufous buff on the inner margins. Sides of head sandy bufl' 

 strongly mottled on the cheeks and ear-coverts with blackish spots and 

 streaks ; under parts generally sandy buff, shaded on crop and sides of 

 body with rich rufous centres to the feathers and regularly spotted down 

 the entire throat with blackish angular shaft-marks. Total length 6-7 inches, 

 culmen 0-5, wing 3-3, tail 23, tarsus I'O. 



Two of Layard's specimens in much worn plumage have lost almost all 

 trace of bars on the wings and tail-feathers, and the upper parts generally 

 are dusky black with narrow ashy edges to the feathers. 



