204 ALAUDID^J MIRAFBA 



The Crested Larks inhabit open country, both desert and cul- 

 tivated, the common European species being often found on roads. 

 They are not as a rule gregarious but are frequently found in single 

 pairs. Their short song, uttered from a perch on some slight 

 elevation, sometimes on the wing, is not unpleasing. They feed 

 on the ground on insects and small seeds, build cup- shaped nests 

 in some slight hollow and lay four or five whitish eggs spotted and 

 blotched with purplish-brown and grey. 



113. Galerita modesta. Heuyliu's Crested Lark. 



Galerita modesta, Heugl. Jour. f. Orn. 1864, p. 274 ; Shelley, P. Z. S. 



1888, p. 28 ; id. B. Afr. i, p. 17 (1896). 

 Geocoraphus modestus, Heugl. J. f. 0. 1868, p. 229 ; id. Om. N.O.-Afr. 



p. 691, pi. 23 (1871). 

 Heliocorys modesta, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 623 (1890). 



Description. Adult male. Above, buff-brown, the feathers with 

 black centres ; upper tail-coverts tinged with rufous ; wing-coverts 

 blackish -brown edged with buff or grey ; quills blackish- brown 

 margined with rufous ; tail-feathers blackish-brown edged with 

 fulvous, the outer rufous-buff with a diagonal dark streak across 

 both webs, the next broadly edged externally with rufous-buff; 

 crown slightly crested, coloured like the back ; a broad eyebrow, 

 lores, and feathers below eye whitish ; ear-coverts light brown ; 

 cheeks white crossed by a black streak ; throat grey ; malar line 

 lack ; rest of under surface grey tinged with rufous-buff on the 

 sides and flanks, the chest thickly spotted and streaked with black, 

 the sides and flanks streaked with dark brown ; axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts rufous-buff. 



Iris dusky brown; bill flesh-colour; feet reddish-brown. 

 Length 5-85; wing 3-30; tail 1-95 ; tarsus 0-80; culmen 0-45. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour but smaller; 

 length 5-40 ; wing 3-10; tail 1-90. 



Distribution. Equatorial Africa : Clan William in Cape Colony 

 (Leipoldt). 



Genus V. MIRAFRA. 



Type. 

 Mirafra, Horsfield, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii, p. 159 (1820)... M. javanica. 



Bill short, elevated at the base, compressed, the culmen curved 

 to the tip ; nostrils exposed, covered by membrane only, basal and 

 lateral. Wings very short ; the first or outer quill well developed, 



