Mr. J. I. S. Whitaker on Tunisian Birds. 89 



Chats and Larks naturally being foremost in the number. 

 Of the Saxicolime he met with all those previously obtained by 

 myself J including Saxicola lugens, and the two forms of Black- 

 throated Chatj S. stapazina and S. melanoleuca. In the way of 

 LarkSj besides Rliamphocorys clot-bey and Alauda arborea, 

 new to my collection^ he met with all those alluded to in 

 my former papers in this Journal, with the exception of 

 A. cinctura. Of Chersophilvs margaritce he got five specimens, 

 all very rufous in colour, and more so even than the specimen 

 obtained by myself last year. Of the Crested Larks he found 

 the four species or races treated of in my papers, but, like 

 myself, failed to meet with the typical Alauda {Galerita) 

 cristcda. Mr. Aplin^s specimens and observations, I may 

 here say, confirm entirely what I have already written on the 

 subject of the Crested Larks found in Tunis. 



I take this opportunity of observing that Dr. Koenig, in his 

 interesting w^ork on the Ornis of Algeria (J.f. 0. 1895, p. 413), 

 alluding to the pale Crested Lark described by me in my pre- 

 vious paper in ' The Ibis ' under the name of Alauda cristata 

 pallida (Ibis, 1895, p. 100), must surely be in error when he 

 refers it to Galerita arenicola (Tristr.). Putting aside the 

 question of the specific distinctness of G. arenicola, of which 

 Canon Tristram himself was in doubt (Ibis, 1861, p. 414), and 

 which I believe is not now generally admitted. Canon Tristram, 

 when speaking of this Lark (Ibis, 1859, p. 426) very clearly 

 states that its bill " is extremely elongated, slender, and 

 curved, its length being '9 inch from the gape.^^ Again 

 further on, comparing the bill of G. arenicola with that of 

 G. macrorhyncha, he says " in both species the extremity of 

 the bill is rounded and dilated, instead of running to a point, 

 as in other Galeridce." Now A. cristata pallida, as Dr. 

 Koenig himself states, is a short-billed form, its culmen, in 

 most of my specimens, measuring half an inch, or just over 

 that, and moreover being distinctly pointed, and not blunted 

 at the tip. Should this pale form of Crested Lark be consi- 

 dered sufficiently distinct to be separated from the others, its 

 name, I think, must therefore stand as Alauda cristata 

 PALLIDA, with the following description : — 



