TEPHROCORYS CINEREA. 125 



able from specimens obtained in Cape Colony, Natal and 

 Damaraland, being only slightly smaller and having the shade 

 of the plumage darker and brighter ; they apparently agree 

 well with the type of Megaloj)honm anderssoni, Tristram." 



Regarding these Larks in South- Western Africa, Chap- 

 man writes : " Alauda spleniata (Strickland). Common in 

 Damara and Great Namaqualand, as also at the Cape, and 

 Andersson found them very abundant in Damara and Great 

 Namaqua, where they breed. T. cinerea is a common species 

 throughout Cape Colony, and towards the end of August the 

 flocks break up for the pairing season. From Natal Messrs. 

 Butler, Feilden and Reid write : " Found in abundance 

 throughout the Cape Colony, though somewhat local and 

 attaching itself to particular spots. These neat little birds are 

 found on the roads or broad tracts, over the sandy portions of 

 the veldt. They are wonderfully tame, and frequently crouch 

 on the approach of a horse, man or waggon, instead of taking 

 flight. The Kaffirs occasionally knock them over with their 

 whips. The nest is a neat structure, not unlike that of our 

 Sky Lark, composed of dry grass, and concealed under a 

 tussock of grass on the open veldt. The eggs are three, 

 frequently only two, in number, pale greenish white, freckled 

 and blotched with brown. In a nest taken by Butler they 

 measured 0'95 by 0"55 inch, but these are doubtless unusually 

 elongated, for in three nests taken by Reid the average size is 

 0"85 by 0'6 inch. A young bird, obtained by Butler, which 

 had just left the nest, was beautifully variegated about with 

 dark brown and buff, not the least like the old bird that was 

 feeding it." Mr. T. E. Buckley came across a scattered flock 

 of them near Pietermaritzburg in May, and observes : " They 

 run fast and are extremely difficult to see." Mr. T. Ayres, 

 writing from Potchefstroom, remarks : " These Larks are 

 easily distinguished when in the field by the chirruping note 



