318 ALAUDID^. 



The Desert-Lark is said to run with great speed. The male at 

 the breeding-season rises about fifty feet, and sings a short song of 

 a few notes, after which he descends and perches on a bush, prior 

 to reaching the ground. 



854. Alaemon desertorum. The Desert-Lark. 



Alauda desertorum, Stanley in Salt's Exped. Abyss. App. p. Ix 



(1814). 

 Certhilauda desertorum (Stanl.), Blyth, Cat. p. 133 ; Horsf. # M. 



Cat. ii, p. 464 ; Jerd. B. I. u, p. 438 ; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xli, 



pt. ii, p. 248 ; Hume, Cat. no. 770 ; Doiff, S. F. ix, p. 281 ; Barnes, 



Birds Bom. p. 284. 

 Alaemon desertorum (Stanl.), Hume, S. F. \, p. 216 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. 



M. xiii, p. 519 ; Oates in Hume's N. fy E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 219. 



Coloration. Upper plumage isabelline grey, tinged with ashy on 

 the forehead and upper tail-coverts, which latter have dusky shafts ; 

 middle pair of tail-feathers sandy brown, very broadly margined 

 on both webs with bright fulvous ; the other tail-feathers black, 

 narrowly margined with fulvous, the outermost feather with a well- 

 defined white margin occupying half the outer web ; wing-coverts 

 brown, with broad fulvous margins, some of the greater coverts 

 tipped white ; primary-coverts black, tipped with white ; the first 

 few primaries black, with white bases; the remaining primaries 

 and secondaries white, with a black spot on the outer web, and a 

 portion of the shaft also black ; tertiaries like middle pair of tail- 

 feathers ; feathers immediately next the nostrils fulvous ; a black 

 streak through the lores, with a white band above and below, the 

 lower band continued under the eye ; a black band behind the eye, 

 with a broad pale fulvous supercilium above it ; cheeks and ear- 

 coverts bright fulvous, divided by a blackish patch ; chin and throat 

 white ; fore neck and breast pale fulvous, with large black spots ; 

 remainder of lower plumage white, the flanks shaded with brown. 



Legs and feet china-white ; iris brown ; bill horny brown above, 

 darkening at the tip ; lower mandible fleshy (Butler}. 



Size extremely variable, the female being apparently much 

 smaller than the male. Length 8*5 to 11 ; tail 3*3 to 4 ; wing 

 4'5 to 5'5 ; tarsus 1*2 to 1*3 ; bill from gape about 1*4. 



Distribution. A permanent resident in Sind and Cutch, 

 extending west through Afghanistan and Persia to Arabia and 

 North-eastern Africa, and ranging in a modified form through 

 Northern Africa. 



Habits, Sfc. This Lark affects the desert and runs like a Plover. 

 Stoliczka observed it on tracts of mud in the Eann of Cutch. It 

 breeds in May and June, making a small nest of grass on the sand, 

 and laying three eggs which are greyish white, marked with 

 yellowish brown, and measure about 1'02 by '74. 



