66 MIRAFRA ALBICAUDA. 



timate feathers white with a wedge-shaped blackish patch on the inner webs ; 

 next feather with a broad white outer margin. A broad eyebrow and sides 

 of head buff mottled with brown ; chin and throat white, shading into 

 brownish buff on the sides of the upper neck, remainder of the under parts 

 brownish buff; lower throat and crop with boldly marked angular blackish 

 spots which unite into a patch between the crop and the sides of the neck. 

 " Iris dark hazel ; bill pale; with upper mandible dusky brown except the 

 edges ; tarsi and feet pale reddish brown." Total length 5 inches, culmen 

 0-4, wing 3, tail 1-8, tarsus 0-8. <? , 6. 1. 79. Potchefstroom (T. Ayres). 



The Latakoo Lark inhabits the eastern part of Cape Colony 

 north to the Transvaal. 



The type was obtained by Sir Andrew Smith, who writes : 

 "Only a few individuals of this species were seen, and those 

 upon the extensive grassy plains to the northward and eastward 

 of Latakoo. It is a species which seems to prefer situations 

 which abound in long and rank grass, among which it runs 

 like a quail, and flies like it when disturbed, to a short distance, 

 and then suddenly descends, after which it cannot again be got 

 to take wing unless by the aid of dogs. It feeds upon seeds 

 and small insects." In Cape Colony it has also been procured 

 by Mr. Atmore on the Whittlesea Flats. 



In the Transvaal, these Larks have been met with by Mr. 

 T. Ayres, in the Marieco district, where bush and glade are 

 pretty equally distributed. Like our English Skylark they 

 rise in the early morning with the same fluttering flight, 

 singing sweetly all the time. He also found them on the 

 slopes in the open country, a mile or two from Potchefstroom. 



Mirafra albicauda. (PI. 18, fig. 2.) 



Mirafra albicauda, Eeichen. J. f. 0. 1891, p. 223 Gonda ; id. Yog. 

 Deutsch. O. Afr. p. 203 (1894) ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 214 (1896) ; 

 Neum. J. f. 0. 1900, p. 291 Eavinjiro, Donje Ngai. 



Adult. Above mottled black with the edges of the feathers dull grey, 

 partially inclining to buff on the centre of the mantle. Wings blackish 

 brown with broad pale edges to the feathers, buff on the wing-coverts, 



