

128 TEPHROCOEYS BLANFORDI. 



Tephrocorys blanfordi n. sp. (PL 21, fig. 2). 



Calandrella anderssoni (nee Tristr.) Blanford, Geol. and Zool. Abyss. 



p. 389 (1870) Senafc ; Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 634. 

 Tephrocorys ruficeps, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 563 (1890) part, spec. 



c, Senafe. 



Type. Upper parts much paler than in the adult of T. ruficeps, all the 

 feathers being broadly edged with sandy brown ; the forehead very slightly 

 duller than the crown ; a few black shaft-stripes at the back of the 

 crown ; ear-coverts pale brown, with only a trace of a black patch on the 

 sides of the neck ; crop, sides of the body, and the thighs tawny buff. Total 

 length 5-0 inches, culmen 0-4, wing 3-2, tail 2-0, tarsus 0-75. <? , 24. 2. 68. 

 Senafe (Blanford). 



Blanford's Red-capped Lark inhabits Northern Abyssinia. 



It is known to me only from the type, which was shot 

 by Dr. Blanford at Senafe in the Tigre district of Abyssinia 

 on February 24, 1868. Here he found these small Larks 

 abundant on stony ground, keeping much in large companies, 

 and highly social, precisely like Calandrella brachydactyla. I 

 have named this bird after Dr. Blanford, who first regarded 

 it as distinct from T. ruficeps. It is certainly more sharply 

 characterised than T. spleniata (Strickl.) and T. anderssoni 

 (Tristr.) which are entered as subspecies (Cat. B. M. xiii. 

 pp. 563, 564). In 1874 (P. Z. S. p. 634) Dr. Bowdler Sharpe 

 remarked that this specimen seemed to him to be T. ruficejjs in 

 winter plumage. I find, however, that it differs to the same 

 extent from two males and a female shot by Lord Lovat in 

 January, as it does from all the other specimens I have seen of 

 T. ruficeps. 



Genus XIV. CALANDRELLA. 



Bill somewhat variable in form, but generally Finoh-like ; nostrils hidden 

 by plumelets. Wing of nine primaries ; the first three the longest and 

 nearly equal ; first primary with a pure white outer edge ; secondaries 

 reaching nearly or quite to the tip of the wing. Crown like the mantle, 

 pale brown with dark centres to the feathers. Sexes similar, and plumage 

 of the young very like that of the adults in colouring. 



