RHAMPHOCORYS CLOT-BEY 287 



except the abdomen, which was white. Its fellow-nestlings were of 

 the normal colour. 



The present species, like other Larks, feeds chiefly on seeds and 

 grain, but also to a certain extent on insects and worms. 



Its breeding season commences towards the end of March and is 

 continued throughout the months of April and May. Its nest is 

 usually placed in a cornfield, or on similar level ground, and is com- 

 posed of grass-bents and other plant material, while its eggs, four or 

 five in number, as a rule, are a dull white or greenish- white colour, with 

 grey shell-spots and brown surface-markings and blotches, generally 

 more or less concentrated at the larger end. Average measurements 

 24 X 18 mm. 



RHAMPHOCORYS CLOT-BEY, Bonaparte. 



THICK-BILLED LAEK. 



Melanocorypha clot-bey, Bp. Consp. Avium, i, p. 242 (1850). 

 Rhamphocorys clot-bey, Bp. Comptes Benchis, sxi, p. 423 (1851) ; 



Sharpe, Gat. Birds Brit. Mas. xiii, p. 527 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1896, p. 96 ; 



Erlancjer, J. f. 0. 1899, p. 366. 

 Alauda clot-bey, Malherbe, Faune Oni. de I'Alcj. p. 21 (1855). 

 Rhamphocoris clot-bey, Locke, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 32 (1867) ; 



Eoenitj J. f. 0. 1888, p. 225 ; id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 46. 



Description. — Adult male, spnng, from neai- Gafsa, South Tunisia. 



Upper parts saudy-isabelline, the nape greyer, and the crown faintly 

 striped with grey ; lores and indistinct superciliary stripes blackish ; 

 primaries dark brown, becomiug darker at the tips ; secondaries blackish, 

 tipped with white ; central rectrices rutous-isabelline, becoming brown on 

 the tips, remaining rectrices white, tipped with blackish-brown, broadly on 

 the inner feathers and more narrowly on the outer ones ; a white patch 

 immediately below the eye ; ear-coverts and sides of the neck black, with 

 a white spot in the centre of the former ; chin and centre of the throat 

 white ; breast white, thickly spotted with black, this colour extending in 

 a broad median stripe downwards on the abdomen ; lower abdomen and 

 crissum white ; sides of body and flanks vinous-isabelline. 



Iris very dark brown ; bill bluish ; feet white. 



Total length 7 inches, wing 5, culmeu -70, height of culmen at base '55, 

 tarsus -SS. 



