ALAUDA ARBOBEA '273 



Regarding its general life and habits I am unable to say anything, 

 having myself never met with it alive, but presumably they do not 

 differ much, if at all, from those of A. arvensis, Linn. 



ALAUDA ARBOREA, Linnaeus. 



WOODLAEK. 



Alauda arborea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 287 (1766) ; Malherbe, Cat. 



Beds. d'Ois. Alcj. p. 11 (1846) ; Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 31 



(1867) ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1896, p. 96. 

 Lullula arborea, Sharpc, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xiii, p. 636 ; Erlanger, 



J. /. 0. 1899, p. 352. 



Description. — Adult male, winter, from Zarzis, South Tunisia. 



Upper parts yellowish-brown, streaked with blackish-brown, particularly 

 on the crown and back ; crest very full ; a conspicuous buffy-white super- 

 ciliary streak extending from the base of the bill to the nape, where t meets 

 the corresponding streak on the other side ; primaries dark brown ; outer 

 greater wing-coverts dark brown, with their bases and tips white, forming 

 rather a conspicuous patch ; rump, upper tail- coverts and central pair of 

 rectrices sandy-brown, remaining tail-feathers blackish, tipped with trian- 

 gular white spots, the outermost pair with more white and tipped with 

 grey on the outer webs ; the tail short and square ; throat and breast 

 yellowish-white, clearly spotted with dark brown ; rest of underparts 

 yellowish-white. 



Iris brown ; bill dark brown and grey below ; feet pale yellowish-flesh- 

 colour. 



Total length 6 inches, wing 3'75, culmen -45, tarsus -SS. 



Adult female similar to the male, but slightly smaller. 



The Woodlark occurs in Tunisia, both north and south of the 

 Atlas Mountains, but is of somewhat local distribution, and can hardly 

 be considered a common bird in the Regency. I have an example 

 of the species obtained in the cork-woods near Ghardimaou, in North 

 Tunisia, on May 11th, 1895. This bird was evidently breeding, its 

 plumage being much worn and soiled. From the south of the Regency 

 I have an example obtained at Zarzis in the early winter, but 

 the species probably only occurs south of the Atlas as a winter 

 migrant, and even during that season is nowhere so plentiful in 

 Tunisia as it is in many parts of Southern Europe. 



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