ALAUDID^ AMMOMANES 197 



wing-coverts and axillaries black ; quills below dusky with light 

 inner margins. 



Iris hazel ; bill ash-white ; legs and feet ash-coloured. 



Length 5-00 ; wing 3-30 ; tail 1-90 ; tarsus 0-70 ; culinen 0-50. 



Adult female. Without black on the head, both head and upper 

 surface being chestnut ; collar round hind neck buff ; sides of head 

 pale rufous ; below, buff-brown, the centre of abdomen black. 



Length 4-60 ; wing 3-10 ; tail 1-75. 



Distribution. From Northern Cape Colony and Griqualand 

 West to the Cunene and Zambesi Eivers, extending into Angola 

 and German East Africa as far north as Zanzibar. Andersson 

 writes " I have observed this species, though very sparingly, in 

 Damara Land, and also to the northward, but not in Great 

 Namaqua Land." Not uncommon on the Orange Eiver, according 

 to Dr. Bradshaw. 



Habits. Very like P. verticalis in its habits, but it is usually in 

 smaller flocks, numbering from ten to forty or fifty individuals, and 

 it is often found feeding on the ground among dwarf bushes, while 

 P. verticalis keeps to more open country. Mr. T. Ayres found these 

 Larks in the Northern Transvaal on the Limpopo Kiver ; he 

 remarks, " We found these birds frequenting the open glades along 

 the banks of the Limpopo in companies consisting of sometimes 

 as many as fifty individuals. They were feeding on grass-seeds 

 after the manner of Finches." 



Mr. Andersson writes regarding the habits of this species in 

 Damara Land : "It is seen in small flocks, which frequent the 

 ground in open localities covered with grass and scanty dwarf 

 vegetation, among which they run with great rapidity, taking flight 

 for a short distance only when disturbed." 



Genus II. AMMOMANES. 



Type. 

 Ammomanes, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. Th. i, p. 125 (1850)... A. deserti. 



Bill thick, higher than broad at nostrils, slightly curved ; the 

 nostrils concealed by a tuft of plumes. Wing with ten primaries, 

 the first small, but exceeding the primary-coverts in length, the 

 second much shorter than the third. Hind claw curved, shorter 

 than the hind toe. Sexes alike in colour, this being very uniform 

 and of a sandy or rufous tone. 



Larks belonging to this genus are found in open sandy plains 



