232 



Unlike the three other nests got earlier in the year, the present 

 nest was domed beautifully over with the same material as the nest. 



" The three nests referred to above I procured as follows : One 

 on the 5th April containing three slightly set eggs ; two on the 

 17th May containing, one two hard-set, and the other one fresh egg." 



Colonel E. A. Butler says: "The Eed-winged Bush-Lark 

 breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa from March till August or 

 September. I have found nests on the following dates (1876) : 



" April 29th. A nest containing 3 fresh eggs. 



" May 7th. , 2 half-fledged young birds. 



"July 20th. 

 "July 29th. 

 " Aug. 18th. 

 " July 25th. 

 " July 31st. 



3 fresh eggs. 



3 young birds. 



1 incubated egg. 



3 young birds. 



1 addled egg, 1 young bird. 



The nest as a rule is dome-shaped, and placed under a tussock 

 of grass, exactly similar to the nest of M . cantillans ; but in some 

 instances it consists of a pad of fine dry grass placed on open 

 ground, in a hole scratched by the old birds. The eggs as a rule 

 are greyish white, thickly speckled and marked all over with 

 greyish brown, sparingly underlaid with inky purple, most densely 

 towards the large end. One nest which I found was placed under 

 a low bush, and was so cleverly concealed that had I not watched 

 the old bird with food for the young ones in her mouth, I should 

 never have found it. It looked more like the nest of a field-mouse 

 than that of a bird. The entrance was not visible from above, and 

 it was only by lowering my head almost to the ground that I could 

 see into it." 



The eggs are typically nearly perfect ovals, neither very broad 

 nor very long, and but little pointed or compressed towards the 

 smaller end ; indeed some of the eggs can scarcely be said to have 

 a smaller end. They vary less, I think, in size and shape than 

 those of any of the other species of this genus, but in colour they 

 differ more. The ground-colour, which harmonizes with the 

 general colour of the markings, ranges through greenish-, greyish-, 

 pinkish-, yellowish-, and brownish-white, in some the tint being 

 very faint, in others fairly well marked. They are invariably more or 

 less finely speckled and spotted all over, more hazily and confluently 

 in some, more clearly and definedly in others. The colour of the 

 specks and spots varies in different eggs from red, brownish red, 

 and inky purple, to reddish-, yellowish-, and olive-brown, the 

 markings of each egg being commonly unicolorous ; and while in 

 some the markings are fairly bright and deep, in others they are 

 very faint and feeble. The uniform speckly character of the 

 markings is typical in this species, but in a few eggs the great 

 density of the spots towards the large end renders them more or 

 less confluent there, and produces very imperfect and irregular 

 zones or caps. All the eggs have a little gloss, but some have a 

 good deal more than others. 



In length they vary from 0*7 to 0*82, and in breadth from O55 

 to 0*65 ; but the average of twenty-nine eggs is O76 by 0*59. 



