276 ALAUDINA. 
fourth, which are the longest, fifth is nearly equal ; tertiaries 
not elongated beyond the secondaries ; tail rather long, slightly 
emarginate ; tarsus and feet moderate ; hind-claw large. 
Ammomanes pheenicura, Franklin. 
758.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 421; Butler, Guzerat ; 
Stray Feathers, Vol. III, p. 499; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. 
IX, p. 418; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central India; Ibis, 1885, 
p. 129. 
THE RUFOUS-TAILED FINCH LARK. 
Length, 6°5 ; wing, 4°2; tail, 2°4. 
Bill horny-brown, fleshy at base beneath; irides brown ; legs 
fleshy. 
Plumage above ashy-brown, with a rufescent tinge ; rump, base 
of tail, the inner webs of the quills, and the tail-feathers, dark 
rufous or dull ferruginous; the quills and tip of the tail dark- 
brown, lower parts of the same ferruginous hue, but paler on 
the throat and lower tail-coverts, and with a few dusky streaks 
on the breast ; extremity of the lower tail-coverts with a dusky 
spot. 
P With the exception of Sind, the Rufous-tailed Finch Lark is 
a common permanent resident throughout the region, breeding 
during April and May. The nests are placed in deep cavities, 
formed by clods of earth on ploughed or broken ground, and 
are mere pads formed of soft grass, occasionally lined with hairs. 
The eggs, usually four in number (I once found five), are moder- 
ately broadish ovals in shape, and vary much in color, but the 
usual type is yellowish-white, thickly freckled and spotted with 
reddish or yellowish-brown, with pale underlying spots of inky 
purple. They average 0°85 inches in length by 0°62 in breadth. 
Ammomanes deserti, Licht. 
759.—A. lusitanica, Gm.—Jerdon’s Birds of India, Vol. II, 
p. 422; A. lusitania, Gm.; Murray’s Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, 
p. 192. 
THE PALE Rurous Frincu Lark. 
Length, 6; wing, 4; tail, 2°75; tarsus, 0°9. 
Bill dusky, yellowish beneath ; irides brown; feet pale yellow- 
brown. 
Affined to A. phenicura, but the general hue is less rufescent ; 
upper parts dull sandy grey-brown ; the wing-coverts dark shafted ; 
the under parts fulvous-grey, or isabelline, albescent on the 
throat, and with a few faint dusky striz on the breast ; tail brown, 
faintly rufescent at its extreme base, and on the outer web of 
the outermost feathers; broad margins to the inner webs of the 
primaries and secondaries with the axillaries also pale rufescent. 
The Pale Rufous Finch Lark is very common in Sind, fre- 
quenting bare stony hills and plains. 
