88 PYURHULAUDA LEUCOTIS. 



who writes : " I have observed this species very sparingly in 

 Damaraland and also to the northward, but not in Great 

 Namaqualand ; it is seen in small flocks, which frequent the 

 ground in open localities covered with grass and scanty dwarf 

 vegetation, amongst which they run with great rapidity, taking 

 flight for a short distance only when disturbed." 



Sir Andrew Smith wrote : " The few specimens we obtained 

 were killed upon plains thinly covered with dwarf shrubs, near 

 the Tropic of Capricoi'n. Their flight, when occasioned by 

 fear, was usually but short, and they were never seen to alight 

 upon anything but the ground, along which they ran with 

 great rapidity, and tben proceeded to collect their food." Mr. 

 Oi'tlepp found the species near Colesberg in flocks of five to 

 ten, feeding on grass seeds. 



In the Transvaal a specimen has been obtained by Mr. 

 W. Lucas at Rustenburg in April, and Mr. T. Ayres " found 

 these birds frequenting the open glades along the banks of 

 the Limpopo, in companies consisting of sometimes as many 

 as fifty individuals." Further north, at Mangwato, in December, 

 this was the commonest of the Larks, found in small flocks, 

 scattered all over the plains and more especially about the 

 caffer-corn fields, but appeared to be very local. In the 

 British Museum there are several specimens from Tete on 

 the Zambesi, and Mr. Boyd Alexander also met with the 

 species here and further up the river at Zumbo and in the 

 vicinity of the Kafue river, and writes : " It frequents flat 

 portions of stony ground. In the breeding- season the male 

 sings on the wing, rising vertically up from the ground, and 

 descending to earth again with hardly a beat of the wings. 

 The call-note, uttered on the ground, is a ventriloquial pipe. 



" Living in colonies, these birds are continually shifting from 

 one locality to another, according to the supply of food. At 

 Zumbo they suddenly appeared on December 13, when the 



