Birds of the Jhelum District. 79 



Alaudula adamsi. The Indus Sand-Lark. 



722. 11.5.1913. Jhelum. ? . Wing 78 mm. 



780. 5.7.1913. „ Imm. „ 80 mm. 



840. 4.9.1913. „ c?. 



972,973.10.1.1914. Jhelum. c?,sex? 



This is the common Lark of the river-bed, where it is 

 resident, breeding on the sand-banks and islands of the 

 river in April, and collecting in flocks in winter. These 

 flocks appear to move about but little, as I observed one 

 frequenting the same patch of ground by the river from 

 January 10 until February 19. The species is an excellent 

 mimic ; one individual while singing was heard to give 

 an exact imitation of the call of Sarcogrammus indicus as 

 heard from a distance, while the alarm-call with which 

 Totanus ochropus springs into flight was several times 

 introduced into the song. 



From Hume's ' Nests & Flggs of Indian Birds ' (ed. 2, 

 vol. ii. p. 226) it appears that the eggs oP this Lark were 

 first described by Captain Cock, from Jhelum. 



[Iris dark brown; feet brown; bill dusky norn-colour above, 

 flesh-brown below. 780, which Mr. Whistler thinks, by the 

 soft yellow gape and incomplete ossification of the skull, to 

 be a bird of the year, is making a complete moult. — C. B. T.'\ 



A common resident, said to breed from the fourth week 

 of March until May. It is found everywhere, including the 

 river-valley and the same ground as the last species, but is 

 most numerous in the Salt Range and the broken ground 

 of the Chakwal plateau. 



[Iris light brown ; feet horn-colour ; bill horn-brown. 

 These specimens belong to the race G. c. chendoola Franklin. 

 860 has just completed a full moult.— C. B. T.] 



