MELANOCORYPHA 121 



Genus XII. MELANOCOBYPHA. 



Bill large and stout ; culmen shorter than the middle toe with claw ; 

 nostrils hidden by stiff plumelets ; wing of ten primaries, the first or bastard 

 primary very small ; secondaries fall short of tip of wing by not less than 

 the length of the tarsus. 



Type. 



Melanocorypha, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 322 M. calandra. 



Calandrina, Blyth, Journ. A. S. Beng. xxiv. p. 265 (1859) M. bimaculata. 



This is essentially a Palsearctic genus, of which only one species occurs 

 during its winter migration in the north-eastern portion of the Ethiopian 

 Eeeion. 



Melanocorypha bimaculata. 



Alauda bimaculata, Menetr. Cat. Rais. Cane. p. 37 (1832). 



Melanocorypha bimaculata, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 555 (1890) 

 Abyssinia; Hartert, Kat. Vog. Mus. Senck. p. 39 (1891) Dongola; 

 Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 184 (1896). 



Adult male. Above pale brown, with fairly broad blackish brown shaft- 

 bands on the crown, mantle, and middle back ; lower back and upper 

 tail-coverts uniform ; wings brown, with paler buffy brown edges to the 

 feathers ; tail square, blackish brown, with the sides of the feathers edged 

 with tawny buff, very broadly on the centre pair ; all the other tail-feathers 

 with large terminal white spots, mostly confined to the inner webs ; sides of 

 the head, with the cheeks and a broad eyebrow white, beneath which is a 

 blackish band through the eye ; ear coverts brown ; throat white, ending in 

 a broad black collar which is divided in two by white feathers ; under surface 

 of the body white, washed with pale brown on the crop and flanks ; sides of 

 crop mottled with dark centres to the feathers ; under surface of the wing 

 ashy brown, with a narrow line of coverts next to the bend of the wing 

 broadly edged with brownish buff. Iris hazel ; bill horn colour, paler on 

 the lower mandible ; tarsi and feet flesh colour. Total length 7 inches, 

 culmen 0'7, wing 4'6, tail 2-2, tarsus 1-05. 



Ad^dt female. Similar in plumage to the male. Total length 6'8 

 inches, culmen 0'7, wing 4-6, tail 2-2, tarsus I'O. 



The Eastern Calandra Lark ranges from the Blue Nile to 

 North-western India. 



In the British Museum there is a specimen from Abyssinia. 

 According to Heuglin, it appears in North-east Africa, south- 



