L 



ALAUDID.E AMMOMANES 199 



distance inland ; but I have not observed it so far east as Objim- 

 binque. It feeds on seeds and insects, and is comparatively tame, 

 but where grass abounds it is difficult to secure. A few individuals 

 are usually found together." 



110. Ammomanes erythrochlamys. Bed-backed Lark. 



Alauda erythrochlamys, StricM. Contr. Om. 1852, p. 151 ; Gurney in 



Andersson's B. Damara Land, p. 194 (1872). 

 Megalophomis erythrochlamys, Ay res, Ibis, 1874, pi. iii, fig. 1 ; 1878, 



p. 298. 

 Ammomanes erythrochlamys, Sliarpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 506 



(1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 648 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 17 



(1896). 



Description. Adult male in summer. Above, including the 

 wings, cinnamon-red, the wing-feathers edged externally with 

 cream-colour ; upper tail-coverts and two centre tail-feathers paler 

 cinnamon, the other tail-feathers with their outer webs and tips 

 cinnamon-red, their inner webs light fuscous ; crown like the back ; 

 eyebrow and spot below eye pale cream colour ; ear-coverts pale 

 rufous ; under surface of body yellowish-white, the chest spotted 

 with triangular markings of brown ; under wing-coverts buff. 



Iris hazel ; bill dusky ; legs and feet pale brown. 



Length, in flesh 8-00 ; of skin 7-00 ; wing 4-20 ; tail 3-00 ; tarsus 

 1-15 ; culmen 0-75. 



Adult male in winter. Above, including the wing- coverts, pale 

 fawn-colour streaked with reddish-brown, the coverts edged with 

 buff ; quills pale brown edged with buff ; tail-feathers dark brown 

 edged with buff, the outer web of outer feather entirely buff ; lores, 

 eyebrow, streak below eye, and cheeks white; ear-coverts fawn- 

 colour ; below, cream-colour, the sides tinged with rufous, the chest 

 with triangular spots of pale brown ; under wing-coverts buff. 



Adult female. Like the male in colour but slightly smaller. 



Length 712 ; wing 3'75 ; tail 2-50 ; tarsus 1-12. 



Distribution. From the Transvaal, where it is a resident, to 

 Damara Land. 



Habits. But little is known of the habits of this Lark. Mr. T. 

 Ayres writes in the " Ibis" for 1874, p. 103, " I shot the specimen 

 sent (a female) amongst some rocks and stones in a range of low 

 hills some three or four miles from Potchefstroom ; it had a peculiar 

 knack of hiding itself by creeping over and about the bits of rock." 



