230 ALAUDID-S. 



as if to form a lining, but as a rule there is no pretence for this 

 latter. Most nests are loose, flimsy things that will not bear 

 removal. 



Five is the usual complement of eggs, but four, three, and even 

 two, hard-set eggs or young are often found. 



From Saharunpoor Colonel G. F. L. Marshall writes : " Builds 

 in the first half of June a nest of grass and roots roofed over and 

 placed against a tuft of grass on the ground. The bird is common 

 in the north of the Saharunpoor District, but the nest is very 

 difficult to find. On 7th June I found a nest with one fresh egg 

 and one addled, on the 19th June one with three fresh eggs, and 

 on the 30th June one with five fresh eggs. The nest has a side 

 entrance, is very loosely put together, and has no lining." 



Dr. Jerdon says : " One (nest) which I obtained in Dacca in 

 June was distinctly domed or covered in by turning the stems of 

 grass over, and was very artfully concealed. The eggs are dull 

 greenish white, with numerous grey and brown spots." 



Mr. J. E. Cripps, writing from Furreedpore in Eastern Bengal, 

 says : Very common and a permanent resident ; found in open 

 plains and cultivated fields, and also on the public roads. 1 have 

 repeatedly found their eggs. On the 23rd March a female flew 

 past me with a straw in her bill and settled in the dry bed of a 

 tank. On my going up to the spot she flew off the nest and was 

 shot. The nest, the lower half of which rested in a small hollow, 

 was a domed structure of ' sone ' and ' doob ' grass-roots with 

 a lining of very fine roots of those grasses ; there were also some 

 lumps of matted fur like that of the rat in the nest ; the entrance 

 was at the side ; there were two fresh eggs ; the whole thing was 

 very artfully concealed. I found another nest in an indigo field, 

 which was partially overhung by a tuft of grass, but which \\as 

 only a pad of grass-roots and contained four fresh eggs. I shot 

 the female as she flew off. This was on the 22nd June ; the 

 breeding time is from the beginning of March to the 15th July." 



The eggs taken by Mr. Cripps are moderately broad ovals, 

 pointed towards the small end. The shell is fine, though slender, 

 and has a slight gloss ; the ground-colour is white, but with a faint 

 greyish or greenish tinge. Eound the large end is a more or less 

 irregular but conspicuous zone densely set with specks and spots 

 almost black, but browner in some specimens, and little clouds 

 and smears of inky grey, and similar markings, though much less 

 dense elsewhere, are scattered over the rest of the surface of 

 the egg. 



Generally speaking, the eggs of this species closely resemble those 

 of M. erythroptera, but as a body are larger. They are charac- 

 teristic Lark eggs, with greyish or yellowish-white or stone- 

 coloured grounds, very thickly freckled and spotted, and sometimes 

 finely streaked, with yellowish or pale purplish brown. The 

 markings are commonly somewhat more dense at the large end. 

 In shape the eggs are slightly elongated ovals, but little pointed 

 towards the small end. They have, as usual, a faint gloss. 



