278 Mr. H. AVhistler on the [tbi^, 



Ammomanes deserti phoenicuroides (Blyth). (5 skius). 



A resident species, locally distributed in small numbers 

 tliroughout the district. It is most abundant about the base 

 ot the small rocky hills which rise abruptly from the plain 

 between Ohiniot and Lalian. Elsewhere it is chiefly found 

 on the curious patches of hard clayey soil, divided into 

 miniature ravines by the action of rain-water, which occur 

 throughout the district. 



Several nests were found, mostly old, all of the same 

 character : namely, a substantial cup of twigs, grasses, etc., 

 with a lining of finer materials, placed in a hollow on the 

 side of one of the minute ravines mentioned above and 

 surrounded b}- a banking of small pieces of hard clay — broken 

 flakes from the sunburnt "round. One nest was in a hollow 

 amongst the bricks of the wall of a ruined hut, 2 feet from 

 the ground ; another was on a ledge of a rocky hillside some 

 5 feet up. 



A nest containing one egg and two newly-hatched young 

 was found on 28 April, 1918, and these young birds flew out 

 when I looked at it again on 18 May. 0/3 slightly in- 

 cubated eggs were taken on 8 June from a nest which I found 

 partly built on 2 May : this nest was apparently deserted in 

 the meantime owing to damage done by rain, and afterwards 

 rcadopted and completed. 



This Lark is not at all shy, and when in the neighbourhood 

 of its nest allows a close approach, while it runs freely and 

 wanders about in an erratic manner which aives no clue to 

 the actual site. The note is a curious plaintive, dreamily 

 uttered " peef-peef-peef '" : the song uttered during a 

 hesitating mounting flight with deeply flapping wings is 

 a broken collection of disconnected notes : " peef-poop- 

 peef-peef-poof " is a rough attempt to reduce it to 

 syllables. 



An unfledged bird was obtained, and it shows that the 

 juvenile plumage is exactly similar to that of the adult, 

 except that the feathers on the U2:>per surface are edged with 

 a more creamy yellowish-buff^. 



