PYRRHULA.UDA. 243 



these markings are deiise, there a iiumber of tiny spots and clouds 

 of pale lilac are to be found intermingled. 



In length the few eggs I possess vary from 0*78 to 0*87, and in 

 breadth from 0-59 to 0-62. 



Pyrrhulauda grisea (Scop.). The Ashy-crowned 

 Finc?i-LarJc. 



Pyrrhulauda grisea (Scop.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 424 ; Hume, Rouyh 

 Draft N. # E. no. 760. 



The Black-bellied or Ashy-crowned Pinch-Lark breeds pretty 

 well all over the plains of India. The breeding-season varies from 

 January to August. They have two broods the first clutch is 

 commonly laid in February and March, and the second in July and 

 August. The time perhaps varies a little, according to locality, but 

 chiefly according to individual birds. In the same district, Etawah, 

 1 have mvself found eggs on the 22ud February, llth, 20th, and 

 21st March, 4th and 23rd April, 10th May, 28th July, 4th, 17th, 

 and 21st August, so that I cannot believe that locality has much 

 to do with season. 



The nest is always on the ground, and placed in some little de- 

 pression (a hoof-print being a favourite site), at times perfectly 

 exposed to view, at others shaded by a large clod of earth or a 

 tussock of grass. All the nests that I have seen (fully thirty in 

 number) were tiny soft pads, about 3 inches in diameter and about 

 three fourths of an inch in thickness, composed of thread, soft tow- 

 like vegetable fibre, a few feathers, and a very little fine grass, or 

 at any rate of these same materials in varying proportions. The 

 upper surface, slightly depressed towards the centre to the depth 

 of about half an inch, formed the egg-cavity. Two is undoubtedly 

 the normal number of the eggs, but very rarely three are found. 



I may note that at Etawah we found one nest of this species 

 also amongst the ballast, between the rails, so that here, too, the 

 trains must have passed a dozen times day and night over the 

 sitting bird. When we think of the terrible heat glowing from the 

 bottom of the engine, the perpetual dusting out of red-hot cinders, 

 it seems marvellous how the bird could have maintained her 

 position. 



Colonel Gr. F. L. Marshall remarks : " This species breeds in 

 Alygurh early in May. A nest taken on the 6th contained two 

 fresh eggs. It was placed on a slight ridge in a ploughed field 

 under a tiny sprig of dwarf (ber) thorn. The top of the ridge was 

 slightly hollowed, and the cavity was lined with grass-stems with 

 an inner lining of shreds of grass and wool. The nest was very 

 small, even for the size of the bird." 



From Futtegurh, Mr. A. Anderson wrote to me : " The Black- 

 bellied Finch-Lark breeds all over the JSTorth-west Province from 

 the latter end of February to the end of March. They never lay 

 more than a pair of eggs ; these are large for the size of the bird, 



16* 



