120 PSEUDAL^MON DELAMEREI. 



section of Larks in which the nostrils are hidden by plumelets, 

 the bastard primary short and the secondaries reaching nearly 

 to the tip of the wing ; but the genus is strongly characterised 

 by the long stout bill and short tail, and should, I consider, be 

 placed between Alauda and Melanocorypha. 



Pseudalsemon delamerei. 



Pseudalsemon delamerei, Sharpe, B. 0. C. x. p. 102 (1900) Athi River. 



Type. Above buff, whiter on the hind neck, with broad blackish centres 

 to the feathers, narrower on the crown and neck than on the back, and not 

 extending on to the upper tail-coverts, which are uniform ; wings blackish 

 brown with fairly broad sandy buff edges to the feathers ; tail short, square, 

 dark brown, with very narrow white edges, and having the greater part of the 

 outer webs of the tail and a portion of the outer web of the penultimate 

 feathers white ; sides of the head, with the cheeks, space under the eye and 

 a broad eyebrow white, beneath which is a blackish band through the eye 

 and the uppermost ear-coverts, branching off downwards round the front 

 half of the ear-coverts; the remainder of the ear-coverts blackish brown, 

 with the front lower quarter ashy white ; throat white, the lower portion 

 flanked on each side by a large patch of black ; under surface of the body 

 white, shaded with tawny buff on the crop and flanks ; several blackish spots 

 on the lower throat and sides of the crop, and a few of the feathers of the 

 flanks streaked with black and a few with pale rufous ; under surface of the 

 wings dusky with the coverts and partial inner edges of the quills rufous 

 buff. Total length 5-5 inches, culmen 0-65, wing 3-45, tail 2-0, tarsus 0-75. 

 <? , 17. 11. 99. Athi river (Lord Delamere). 



Delamere's Short-tailed Lark is known, I believe, only by 

 the type, which was shot by Lord Delamere at the Athi river, 

 in British East Africa, on November 17, 1899. 



This Lark closely resembles P. fremantlei in structure, size, 

 and general pattern of the plumage, and as the latter is known 

 only from specimens killed in February, I should not be 

 surprised if these prove to be seasonal plumages of one species. 

 Mirafra nivosa is known to be subject to a very similar change 

 in the spring and autumn of the year. 



a 



