240 ALAUDIDjE. 



S. hayi (I presume he refers to the same species), says, * it is a 

 true Sky-Lark, singing as it mounts.' " 



Messrs. Davidson and Wenden remark, writing from the 

 Deccan : " Very numerous and breeds in July and August." 



The eggs, many of which Miss Cockburn kindly sent me along 

 with one of the parent birds (so that there can be no mistake as to 

 the species), are, as might be expected, very Lark-like in their 

 appearance. In shape they are moderately broad ovals, somewhat 

 pointed at one end, and they have little or no gloss. The ground- 

 colour is a dull white, and they are profusely spotted and blotched 

 with dull pale yellowish brown and dingy inky-purple ; in some of 

 the eggs the markings are comparatively small, and so thickly set 

 as to leave but little of the ground-colour visible, the markings 

 assuming the character of a dense uniform mottling. In others 

 the markings are larger and far less closely set, fully half the 

 surface of the egg being free from marks. 



As a body, the eggs of this species besides being larger are dis- 

 tinctly more strongly and better marked than those of G. deva. 

 The great majority of these latter at a distance of a yard look 

 quite uniform in colour, while at the same distance more than half 

 of those of the present species are seen to be quite distinctly 

 freckled, mottled, and streaked with a darker tint. 



In length they vary from 0'85 to 0-92, and in breadth from O63 

 to 0'68 ; but the average of eighteen specimens is 0*87 by 0*65. 



Ammomanes phcenicura (Prankl.). The Rufous-tailed 

 Finch-Lark. 



Ammomanes phcenicura (Frankl.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii. p. 421 ; Hume, 

 Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 758. 



The Rufous-tailed Pinch-Lark, so far from being, as Jerdon 

 says, rare in the Central Provinces north of the Nerbudda, and 

 unknown in the North-western Provinces, is common enough in 

 the Sambhulpoor, Jubbulpoor, Saugor, and Jhausi Districts, and 

 in Gwalior, and is by no means very rare in Etawah, Agra, Ally- 

 gurh, &c., and in the eastern portions of Rajpootana. About the 

 Sambhur Lake, for instance, it is very common. Purther west, 

 and throughout Sindh and the trans- Jheelum and Indus, Punjab, 

 it is replaced by the next species, A. phoenicuroides. 



It is not, so far as I know, at all a migratory bird, though it 

 shifts its feeding- ground according to season ; and it is to be found 

 breeding, I believe, in all the localities mentioned, as also in many 

 parts of Southern India, where the climate and soil are not too 

 damp to suit it. 



The breeding-season, so far as I know, lasts from Pebruary to 

 April. Tickell, as it will be seen, says that he found its eggs in 

 June, but one can never feel sure that he is correct, and the nest 

 he describes is more like that of one of the Mirafras. 



The nests that I have seen have all been \ ery slight circular pads 



