190 FEINGILLID^E FRINGILLARIA 



Length 5-00 ; wing 2-95 ; tail 2-35. 



Distribution. Eastern Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand and the 

 Orange Free State ; throughout the greater part of the Transvaal, 

 Ehodesia and Bechuanaland, ranging northward into Nyasaland 

 and the Victoria Nyanza districts, and extending into Equatorial 

 Africa. On the West coast it has been obtained in Benguela and 

 Gaboon. 



Habits. I have generally met with this Bunting on broken hill- 

 sides strewn with rocks and partly overgrown with low bushes. 

 Like F. capensis, it is of tame and familiar habits and is fond of 

 uttering its broken song from the summit of a stone or low bush 

 while at intervals it opens and shuts its wings. Its notes resemble 

 those of the Cape Bunting to a certain degree, but are at the same 

 time easily distinguished by the ear although the difference is not 

 readily pointed out in words. It feeds on small seeds and various 

 insects. 



A nest taken in Upper Natal in November was built a few inches 

 off the ground, in a low bush sheltered on one side by a rock. The 

 three eggs resemble those of F. capensis in colour but are a trifle 

 smaller than the average of the latter. 



105. Fringillaria impetuani. Lark Bunting. 



. Emberiza impetuani, Smith, Eep. Exp. Centr. Afr. App. p. 48 (1836). 

 Fringillaria impetuani, Gray, Gen. B. ii, p. 378 (1844) ; Layard, B. 8. 

 Afr. p. 206 (1867) ; Gurney in Andersson's B. Damara Land p. 189 

 (1872) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. pp. 489, 851 (1884) ; id. 

 Cat, B. M. xii, p. 563 (1888) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 18 (1896). 



Description. Adult male. Above, brown streaked with black ; 

 the mantle reddish-brown ; lesser and middle wing-coverts rufous- 

 brown ; greater coverts black edged with rufous ; primary coverts 

 and quills blackish edged with pale rufous ; the secondaries exter- 

 nally rufous ; tail-feathers blackish edged with brown, the outer- 

 most externally with white ; crown like the back ; lores, eyebrow 

 and eyelid brownish-white ; ear-coverts rufous ; sides of neck brown 

 streaked with black ; below whitish, the breast and sides tinged 

 with rufous, the flanks streaked with brown ; axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts reddish-brown ; under surface of quills dusky with 

 rufous inner margins. 



Iris dark brown ; upper mandible dusky, the lower horn-colour ; 

 legs and feet dusky flesh-colour. 



