CHEESOPHILUS DUPONTI 245 



CHERSOPHILUS DUPONTI (Vieillot). 

 DUPONT'S LARK. 



Alauda duponti, Vieill. Faun. Frang, p. 173, pi. 76, fig. 2 (1820). 

 Certhilauda duponti, Bp. Gat. Met. Ucc. Eur. p. 30 (1842). 

 Chersophilus duponti, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiii, p. 626 ; 



Whitaker, Ibis, 1898, p. 126. 

 Certhilauda dupontii, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 42 (1867). 

 Alaemon duponti, Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 230. 

 Alaemon duponti duponti, Erlanger, J. f. 0. 1899, p. 368. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Garaar-el-Krechetn, Central 

 Tunisia. 



Upper parts brown, the feathers with darlier centres and lighter margins, 

 giving the bird a mottled or scaly appearance ; the nape and sides of the 

 neck rather lighter, owing to the wider white margins ; the crown with a 

 median whitish stripe extending from the forehead backward ; a whitish 

 stripe over the eye ; primaries dark brown, slightly margined with a lighter 

 shade; secondaries the same, but with broader margins; middle pair of 

 rectrices rufous-brown, the rest dark brown except the outer pair of feathers, 

 which are almost entirely white, and the adjoining pair, which have their 

 outer webs white ; chin and throat whitish, with a narrow dark streak from 

 the base of the bill downwards, and minute dark spots on the throat ; breast 

 whitish, thickly spotted with dark brown ; rest of underparts dull white, the 

 sides and flanks striped with rufous-brown. 



Iris dark hazel ; bill light brown ; feet flesh-colour, hind claw almost 

 straight. 



Total length 7-25 inches, wing 3*95, culmen -90, tarsus 1. 



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



The range of the genus Chersophilus, so far as is at present known, 

 is confined to a portion of North-west Africa, Southern Spain, 

 Portugal, and the Balearic Islands. In North-west Africa it is to be 

 found in Algeria and Tunisia, and although not yet recorded from 

 Marocco and Tripoli, it probably occurs in certain parts of those 

 countries as well. Should it be met with in the latter country, the 

 form found will no doubt be the subspecies C. d. margaritoi. 



Birds of this genus from Spain, Portugal and the Balearic Isles 

 do not appear to differ in any appreciable way from North-west African 

 examples. Those from Portugal have been separated subspecifically 

 under the name of C. lusitanlcus (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiii, p. 5'27), but 



