ALAUDID^] TEPHROCOKYS 223 



Iris hazel ; bill black, the base brown ; feefc dark brown. 



Length 6-25 ; wing 3-60 ; tail 2-50 ; tarsus O85 ; culmen 0'55. 



Adult female. Resembles the male but is smaller. 



Length 6'10 ; wing 3*35 ; tail 2-35. 



Adult male in summer. Much redder and brighter than in 

 winter, the crown a brighter chestnut ; the crop tinged with reddish, 

 the sides of the breast and body more extensively chestnut-red. 



Young. Above blackish-brown, the end of each feather tipped 

 with pale buff ; nape grey mottled with brown ; below, whitish, the 

 breast and sides mottled with brown and rufous ; wing-quills brown 

 edged with rufous, the outer primary and inner secondaries with 

 whitish. 



Distribution. Confined to South Africa : commonly, but at the 

 same time locally distributed over Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange 

 Free State and the Transvaal, ranging into Bechuana, Great 

 Namaqua and Southern Damara Land. Very abundant in Upper 

 Natal and the South Transvaal. 



Habits. During autumn and winter these Larks congregate in 

 flocks of considerable size, in localities that are fairly open and 

 free from bush, to feed on the ground on small seeds and insects. 

 They run with speed, and owing to the manner in which their 

 plumage assimilates to the colour of the soil are not easily 

 detected on the ground. When feeding they constantly utter a 

 low chirping note, invariably so as they take flight. Towards the 

 end of August, in Cape Colony, the flocks break up and the birds 

 pair and soon after commence to build their nests, sometimes in a 

 natural hollow of the ground or the footprint of some animal, more 

 often in a cavity scratched by the female on the sheltered side of a 

 tuft of grass. The nest is cup-shaped, constructed of dry grass 

 lined with finer grass, with occasionally a few hairs, rootlets and 

 feathers added. Usually three, but sometimes only two eggs are 

 laid, of a pale cream-colour marked all over, but more thickly in a 

 zone, with spots and mottlings of purplish and umber-brown and 

 grey. They average 0-78 x 0-62. 



127. Tephrocorys spleniata. Damara Bed-capped Lark. 



Alauda spleniata, Strickland, Contrib. Orn. 1852, p. 152. 

 Megalophomis cinereus (nee Gmeliri) Gurney in Andersson's B. 



Damara Land, p. 197, pt. (1872). 

 Tephrocorys spleniata, Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 51 (1884) ; 



id. Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 563 (1890) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 14 (1896). 



