76 PYRRHULAUDA AUSTRALIS. 



Pyrrhulauda australis. 



Megalotis australis, Smith, Eep. Exped. C. Afr. App. p. 49 (1836) 



Orange B. 

 Pyrrhulauda australis, Chapman, Trav. S. Afr. p. 400 (1868) Damara, 



Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 258 Transvaal; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. siii. p. 651 



(1890) ; Kuschel, J. f. O. 1895, p. 344 egg ; Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 



229 (1896) ; Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers. p. 135 (1899) egg ; Stark, Faun. 



S. Afr. B. i. p. 194 (1900). 

 Pyrrhulauda melanosoma. Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 294 (1837). 



Type. Entire head and neck black, with partial brown edges to the 

 feathers of the nape and hind neck ; back, wing-coverts and inner secondaries 

 dark brown, with rather indistinctly defined broad paler edges, which colour 

 predominates on the lower back ; quills, upper tail-coverts and tail uniform 

 brownish black, with the centre tail-feathers slightly paler and with broad 

 brown margins. Under surface of wing and body uniform dull black. 

 " Irides dark brown ; bill light horn colour, darker above ; tarsi and feet 

 flesh colour" (Anderssou). Total length 4-4 inches, culmen 04, wing 3-1, 

 tail 1-7, tarsus 6. 3 , Orange E. (A. Smith). 



Female. Above dusky brown ; head and neck streaked with brownish 

 buff margins to the feathers, more narrowly so on the back and scapulars 

 and very broadly on the upper tail-coverts ; wing-coverts with more sharply 

 defined edges than the other feathers of the wings ; tail blackish brown, 

 with the centre pair of feathers paler and inclining to rufous buff on the 

 edges of the basal parts ; outermost feathers fading into dusky white 

 towards the external terminal half ; penultimate feathers with narrow partial 

 white edges ; under surface of quills ashy brown with partial buff inner 

 margins ; asillaries and under wing-coverts brownish-black, the latter with 

 a broad buff outer margin ; sides of head buff with broad blackish streaks 

 on the ear-coverts ; throat and under surface of body sandy buff with a large 

 blackish brown patch down the centre of the body and over the tail-coverts. 

 " Iris dark hazel ; bill ashy ; tarsi and feet pale brown " (W. Lucas). 

 Total length 4-8 inches, culmen 04, wing 3, tail 1-7, tarsus 065. 2 , 

 10. 12. 81. Rustenburg (W. Lucas). 



The Black- eared Sparrow- Lark ranges from Damara 

 through Northern and Eastern Cape Colony into Natal and 

 the Transvaal. 



According to Andersson, this species is not uncommon 

 in Damara and Great Namaqualand, where it occurs in small 

 flocks during the rainy season. Sir Andrew Smith, who dis- 



