MIBAFRA. 227 



in, or else under cover of, one of the small scrubby salt-plants 

 (Salsola sp.) so common on the bare sandy plains of Kurraehee. 

 Some eggs are much less marked than others, and some have a 

 well-defined zone at the large end. 



" I found other nests later on on the following dates : 



" April 29th. 11 nests each containing 2 fresh eggs. 

 29th. 1 nest containing 3 fresh eggs. 

 29th. 1 1 chick fully fledged. 

 30th. 1 2 fresh eggs. 



" May 5th. 1 ;> r 3 fresh eggs." 



An egg of this species obtained on the banks of the Jheelum on 

 the 20th March much resembles those of the preceding species, 

 but it is more glossy, the ground-colour is somewhat purer white 

 than either, and it is less densely spotted and speckled, the mark- 

 ings being spots and specks and small smears of pale yellowish 

 brown, with a few very minute pale inky-purple specks and spots 

 underlying the brown markings. 



Generally I may add, after seeing several more eggs, the ground- 

 colour is dull white, spotted and mottled all over, but more thickly 

 towards the larger end, with pale greenish brown. There are a 

 few spots of grey intermixed with the brown ones, especially towards 

 the larger end. 



Several eggs that I measured varied from 0*7 to 0*8 in length, 

 and from 0-5 to 0'57 in breadth. 



Mirafra cantillans, Jerd. The Sinyiny Bush-Lark. 



Mirafra cantillans, Jerd., Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 420 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. & E. no. 757. 



The Singing Bush-Lark, as Jerdon calls it, breeds in many places 

 in the Xorth-western and Central Provinces and the Punjab. The 

 bird has always been a puzzle to me. At distances of 50 miles or 

 more apart you come upon small colonies, while in hundreds of 

 intermediate and apparently precisely similar localities you never 

 see it. I have had its eggs sent me from near Lahore and from 

 Hansie, have found them in Goorgaon and in the south of the 

 Cawnpoor District, and again have received them from Jhansi. 



The breeding-season lasts from March to August. The nest, 

 like that of M. assamica, is sometimes a mere pad, sometimes a 

 domed nest, composed of rather fine dry grass and roots, and 

 sometimes slightly lined with finer grass or roots, but usually 

 without any pretence for a lining. It is placed mostly amongst 

 thick grass and is well concealed ; but at times in little frequented 

 localities, such as the ravines of the Jumna on the south of the 

 Cawnpoor District, it will be found in a slight depression of the 

 soil or niche in a bank quite open to view. 



Tour is the largest number of eggs I have ever found in one 

 nest. 



From Hansie Mr. W. Blewitt wrote one year : " I secured one 

 nest of this species in the Dhana Beerh, or jungle preserve, near 



15* 



