60 MIRAFRA ALOPEX. 



Mirafra'alopex. 



Mirafia alopex, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 617 (1890) Somali; Shelley, 



B. Afr. I. No. 212 (1896). 

 Mirafra cordofaniea (nee Strickl.), Shelley, Ibis, 1885, p. 407 Somali. 



Type. Differs from the South African M. africanoides only in being a 

 trifle darker. Total length 5-5 inches, culmen 0-5, wing 3-2, tail 2-2, tarsus 

 0-85, Somali {Lort Phillips). 



The Somali Fawn-coloured Lark inhabits Somaliland and 

 British East Africa. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, in 1890, recognised this form as a 

 subspecies of M. africanoides. The type was shot in Somali- 

 land by Mr. Lort Phillips, who writes : " Only met with on 

 a few occasions, near the centre of the plateau. It perches 

 on the topmost boughs of the trees which it leaves with a 

 quivering flight, like our Wood-Larks, pouring forth a 

 peculiarly sweet song." 



In British East Africa Lord Delamere has procured two 

 females from Wasa Myro and a male from Likipia, all shot 

 in January. The season probably accounts for these speci- 

 mens being slightly less rufous than the type, and for their 

 having the dark centres to the feathers a little broader and 

 the crop-spots rather larger and blacker ; otherwise they agree 

 well with the only specimen hitherto known. 



Mirafra intercedens. (Pi- 18, fig. i.) 



Mirafra intercedens, Eeichen. Orn. Monatsb. 1895, p. 96 Masai ; Elliot, 

 Field-Columb. Mus. Orn. i. No. 2, p. 37 (1897) ; Hawker, Ibis, 1899, 

 p. 64 Somali: Hartert, in Ansorge's " Under Afr. Sun," p. 348 (1899) 

 Kiboro B. ; id. Nov. Zool. vii. p. 46 (1900) Campi-ya-Simha ; Neum. 

 J. f. O. 1900, p. 290 Ngaruka ; Grant, Ibis, 1901, p. 628 S. Abyssinia. 



Mirafra sabota (nee Smith), Eeichen. J. f. 0. 1887, p. 74 Loem. 



Mirafra africanoides (nee Smith), Eeichen. Vog. Deutsch. 0. Afr. p. 203 

 (1894) Loeru, Masai. 



Adult. Above mottled, pale tawny brown, with blackish brown centres 

 to the feathers, paler and more buff on the neck. Wings dark brown, with 



