242 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



behind tbe eye and widening on the ear-coverts, greyish-black ; entire crown 

 and nape sandy-grey, shading into sandy-buff on the back and scapulars ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts pale sandy-grey ; primaries dark brown, with 

 the basal portion white ; secondaries white barred with a dark brown central 

 band ; the innermost secondaries, which are much elongated, greyish brown, 

 fringed with sandy-buff ; upper wing-coverts mostly grey, margined with 

 sandy-buff, and tipped with white ; tail white at the base, the two median 

 rectrices sandy-buff, the remainder blackish, the outer pair margined with 

 white on their outer webs ; chin and throat white, the latter slightly spotted 

 with dark grey ; breast creamy-white, thickly spotted with dark grey ; 

 rest of underparts white. 



Iris brown ; bill brownish-grey ; feet whitish. 



Total length 9 inches, wing 5'15, culmen 1-15, tarsus 1-25. 



Adult female similar in plumage to the male, but rather smaller. 



The range of the present species seems to extend throughout the 

 whole of the desert region of North Africa, from east to west. The 

 species also appears to occur in the Cape Verde Islands. On the 

 Abyssinian coast and further east in Asia a closely allied, but fairly 

 distinct, form, A. a. desertorum (Stanley), is to be found, which has 

 rightly been separated subspecifically from the present species. This 

 form is distinctly greyer and more ashy in coloration, and tbe difference 

 in colour appears to be constant within the bird's range. 



Of the occurrence of AlcBinon alaiidipes north of the Mediterranean 

 there seems to be no authentic record. 



My Tunisian collection includes a large series of specimens of this 

 Lark, both adult and young, obtained at different seasons, and from 

 various parts of the Regency. Among the number may be found 

 individuals varying considerably in colour, some being much greyer, 

 particularly on the head and nape, while others are more sandy- 

 isabelline ; but I look upon this difference as entirely a matter of age, 

 the grey plumage being assumed by tbe more adult birds, while less 

 adult and immature birds are of a sandy-isabelline colour. I am led 

 to this conclusion by the fact of very young birds in their first stage of 

 plumage being invariably of a sandy-isabelline colour, and even paler 

 than those which have already moulted once. The Alaudidse, in 

 general, moult during the autumn, but acquire their full spring 

 plumage by shedding the edges of the feathers. 



In point of size there is also a considerable variation between 

 individuals, and very small examples of this Lark are occasionally to be 



