90 PYKRHULAUDA MELANOCEPHALA. 



Nile valley. In Abyssinia he found these Larks most plentiful 

 in the highlands of Telemt, between Tigre and Semien, at an 

 elevation of 8,000 feet, and in January and November met 

 with them frequenting the sandy deserts between the forests 

 in the Gazelle river district. They were generally in parties 

 of three to six together on the barren soil, but never far from 

 water. Ruppell's collection contains a pair from Shendy on 

 the Nile below Khartoum. Above Khartoum Mr. H. F. 

 Witherby found these Larks less numerous than P. frontalis, 

 with which they associated, and writes : " On May 11 we 

 found a nest of this species in a small scooped-out hollow in 

 the caked mud amongst some very short burnt-up grass near 

 the river. The nest, which was sheltered by a large lump 

 of mud, was a small shallow ' cup ' composed of dry grass and 

 two or three bits of cotton. Round the ' cup ' was a compact 

 and neatly-arranged layer of particles of mud, perhaps made 

 by the birds during the formation of the hollow in the caked 

 ground. The nest contained one egg, from which the female 

 flew on our approach." Mr. Hawker has procured three 

 specimens during his journey up the Nile, about twenty miles 

 north of Fashoda, including two young birds, from which 

 I have taken my description of the immature plumage of 

 this Lark. 



Pyrrhulauda melanocephala. 



Alauda melanocephala, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 28 (1823) Nubia, Senc- 



ganibia. 

 Pyrrhulauda melanocephala, Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1901, p. 340 Niger; 



Rothschild & Wollaston, Ibis, 1902, p. 8 Shendy ; Alexander, t.c. 



p. 293 Gold Coast 

 Pringilla otoleuca, Temm. PI. Col. iii. pi. 269, figs. 2, 3 (1824) N. E. Afr. 

 Pyrrhulauda leucotis (nee Stanl.), Hartl. Orn. W. Afr. p. 154 (1857) 



Senegambia; Bouvier, Cat. Ois. Marche, &c. p. 26 (1875) Daranka. 

 Adult male. Very similar to P. leucotis, but differing in the cinnamon 

 colouring of the upper parts being paler, the white nuchal collar broader, 

 and in having no black on the wing-coverts ; the lesser wing-coverts uniform 



