ALAUDA 117 



dotted throughout with small light brown and purple spots. 

 Axis 0'9 inch, diameter 0'65." He found the species plentiful 

 near Cape Town, and very evenly distributed throughout the 

 Colony. 



In the British Museum there are specimens from Little 

 Namaqualand, Ceres, Stellendorf, Colesberg, Hopetown, and 

 the Orange River Colony. 



I have had some doubt as to the advisability of placing 

 the last two species in genera by themselves, for Heliocorys 

 modesta and Calendula crassirostris are scarcely more than 

 somewhat abnormal forms of Galerita. 



Genus X. ALAUDA. 



Bill moderate ; culmen shorter than the middle toe with claw ; nostrils 

 hidden by bristly feathers. Wing of ten primaries, the first a small bastard- 

 primary less than half an inch in length ; the next three primaries about 

 equal and the longest ; secondaries reaching nearly or quite to the end of 

 the wing. Tarsi and feet pale and of moderate size ; hind claw long, rarely 

 shorter than the hind toe and very slightly curved. Plumage above brown 

 or ashy, with blackish centres to the feathers ; no elongated crest feathers. 



Type. 



Alauda, Linn. S. N. i. p. 287 (1766) A. arvensis. 



Aethocorys, Sharpe, Bull. B. 0. C. xii., p. 62 (1902) . . A. personata. 



Alauda aroensis and its nearest allies or subspecies, some 

 half a dozen in number, range over the greater part of 

 Europe, Asia and North Africa, and are apparently confined 

 to the Palgearctic region. One less typical form, A. personata, 

 inhabits Somaliland. Until quite recently this latter species 

 has been placed in the genus Spizocorys, to which it does 

 not belong; it can be distinguished from Alauda, as defined 

 by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe (Oat. B. M. xiii. p. 513), in having 

 a shorter hind claw. 



