ALAUDID^E MIEAFRA 217 



wing-coverts and quills brown edged with grey, the inner second- 

 aries with a subterminal black bar and pale tips ; centre tail- 

 feathers with blackish centres and rufous margins ; remaining 

 tail-feathers dark brown edged with reddish-brown, the outermost 

 tawny, crossed obliquely on the inner web by black ; lores and 

 eyebrow sandy - brown ; ear - coverts rufous ; cheeks and under 

 surface of body buff, the lower throat and chest tinged with vinous 

 and sparingly spotted with brown ; axillaries and under wing- 

 coverts buff. 



Iris brown ; bill brownish ; feet reddish. 



Length 5-70; wing 3'15 ; tail 2-10; tarsus 1-00; culmen 0-65. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in plumage but a trifle smaller. 



Distribution. From Swazi Land to the Zambesi Eiver, thence 

 to German East Africa, the Upper Congo Kegion and Benguela. 



Umvuli Eiver, Matabililand, in September (Ayres.) 



Habits. Under its synonym M. apiata, Mr. T. Ayres writes as 

 follows of this Lark in the "Ibis" for 1882, page 350; " A few in this 

 part of the country (Umvuli Eiver, Matabililand) frequenting the 

 more open grassy patches." 



123. Mirafra apiata. Bar-tailed Lark. 



L'Alouette bateleuse, Levaill Ois. d'Afr. iv, pi. 194 (1805). 



Alauda apiata, Vieill. Nouv. Dict..i, p. 342 (1816). 



Brachonyx apiata, Smith, III. Zool. S. Afr. pi. 110, fig. 1 (1847). 



Megalophonus apiatus, Bp. Conspect. i, p. 244 (1850) ; Layard, B. S. 



Afr. p. 215 (1867). 

 Mirafra apiata, Sharpe, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 638 ; id. ed. Layard 's B. S. 



Afr. p. 515 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 598 (1890) ; Shelley, B. 



Afr. i., p. 15 (1896). 



" Clapart Leeuwerk " of the Dutch. 



Description. Adult male in summer. Above, dark brown with 

 concealed bars of rufous and black ; wing-coverts like the back but 

 with rufous tips ; inner secondaries with black shafts and bars ; 

 rest of quills brown with rufous edges ; tail brown, the outer feather 

 edged with fawn-colour ; eyebrow fawn-colour ; ear-coverts rufous ; 

 under surface of body bright fawn-colour speckled with black on the 

 throat and chest ; axillaries and under wing-coverts fawn-colour. 



Iris hazel ; bill horn-colour ; legs and feet pink. 



Length 5-00; wing 3-00 ; tail 2-20; tarsus 1-00; culmen 0-55. 



Adult male in winter. Above, grey barred with rufous ; crown 



