AMMOMANES SAMHARENSIS 99 



The exact range of this species is somewhat doubtful, as it 

 seems to be entirely replaced in the Abyssinian highlands by 

 A. saviharensis. 



Whether the Samhar Desert-Lark is the southern repre- 

 sentative of A. deserti, as I believe it to be, or a local mountain 

 form, I am unable to say, for no species of Ammomanes have 

 been recorded from Shoa, and all those I have seen from 

 Somaliland belong to A. lusitana and A, phoenicuroides. A. 

 deserti, recorded by Mr. A. J. Cholmley from the Erba 

 Mountains near Suakin, has, I believe, been rightly determined, 

 and this is the most southern range, known to me, for the 

 species. 



Ammomanes samharensis. (PI. 21, fig. 1.) 



Ammomanes deserti (nee Licht.), Finsch. Trans. Z. S. vii. p. 272 (1870) ; 

 Blanf. Geol. and Zool. Abyss, p. 390 (1870). 



Type. Very similar to A. deserti, from which it differs in being darker, 

 with the crown and mantle brown, of an ashy grey shade. Total length 

 6-75, culmen 0-5, wing 3-5, tail 2-4, tarsus 0-8. ? , 22. 8. 68. Amba 

 (Blanf ord). 



The Samhar Desert-Lark inhabits Abyssinia, 

 The type was shot at Amba, in the highlands, on August 

 22, 1868, by Dr. Blanford, while in company with Mr. 

 Jesse, who collected two other similar specimens at the 

 same place, and all these are now in the British Museum. 

 Referring to these specimens under the name of Ammomanes 

 deserti. Dr. Blanford wrote : " Not rare to the west and north 

 west of Massowa, in rocky and stony ground, amongst thin 

 bushes." 



A. samharensis is intermediate in the colouring of the 

 upper parts between typical A. deserti from Upper Egypt, and 

 the type of A. saturata from Southern Arabia, but belongs to 

 the A. deserti group in having the rufous of the quills extended 



