MIEAFBA. GALEEITA. 233 



Mirafra affinis, Jerd. The Madras Bush-Lark. 



Mirafra affinis, Jerd. ; Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 614 ; Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. 4r E. no. 755. 



I have never found the nest of the Madras Bush-Lark. Dr. Jer- 

 don states that /'it breeds on the ground, making a loose nest of 

 grass, and lays three or four eggs, greenish grey, with spots and 

 stains of brown and dusky." 



Colonel Tickell remarks : " Nest ordinary, of grasses, 4 inches 

 in diameter, placed on the ground- if~ i er shelter of clods, tufts of 

 grass, &c., in fallow fields or open patches in jungles. Eggs, three 

 or four, ordinary, rather lengthened, O81 by 0*56 ; dirty ashy 

 white, with stains, smudges, and specks of dusky, ashy, and rusty 

 brown." 



Colonel Legge, writing of Ceylon, remarks : " In the Western 

 Province, the Bush-Lark breeds in May and June, and in the 

 north somewhat earlier, commencing about March." 



Mirafra microptera, Hume. The Burmese Bush-Lark. 

 Mirafra rnicroptera, Hume ; Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 755 bis. 



This is the Burmese Bush-Lark which I characterized in * Stray 

 Feathers,' vol. i. p. 483. 



Mr. Gates tells us : " I found the nest on the 25th July at 

 Boulav, near Thayetmyo, with two eggs and one young bird just 

 hatched. It was on the ground in a hoof-mark, protected and 

 concealed by grass, slightly domed, composed entirely of fine grass 

 and fibres. 



" I have now only one egg. This measures 0-83 by 0'6. The 

 ground-colour is white. The whole egg is thickly spotted with 

 rusty brown and dark brown spots, very thickly at the larger end, 

 where they form a distinct ring." 



Galerita cristata (Linn.). The Crested Lark. 



Galerita cristata (Linn.}, Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 436 ; Hume, Rough 

 Draft N. Sf E. no. 769. 



The great majority of those vast multitudes of Crested Larks 

 that during the cold season meet us on every bare plain and every 

 stubble-field, throughout the drier and better-cultivated portions 

 of Continental India at any rate, are, I am convinced, migratory. 

 A certain number, however, unquestionably remain to breed. 1 

 have taken the eggs at Etawah, Bareilly, and Ferozepoor, I have 

 had them sent from Saharunpoor and Lahore, and I know of the 

 birds breeding in the Salt Eange and about the Sambhur Lake. 



The breeding-season lasts from March to June. They build on 

 the ground like other Larks, and in very similar situations, that is 

 to say in hollows or depressions under the cover of some bush, 



