322 ALAUDID^l. 



This species is easily distinguished from 0. longirostris by the 

 characters pointed out above, the best of which are the smaller bill 

 and general smaller size. 



Distribution. A permanent resident in the highest parts of the 

 Himalayas from Sikhim toLadak, extending into Central Asia from 

 Turkestan to Mongolia and China. Blauford met with this species 

 in Sikhim at nearly 18,000 feet elevation. 



Habits, fyc. Some eggs, presumably of this Lark, found in Native 

 Sikhim are described as being greyish white freckled and mottled 

 all over with pale olive-brown and purplish grey and as measuring 

 about -89 by '64. 



Genus MELANOCORYPHA, Boie, 1828. 



The genus Melanocorypha contains the Calaudra Larks, which 

 are birds of heavy build and large size. One of the Indian species 

 is found only on the highest parts of the Himalayas, but the other 

 is found in the cultivated parts of the plains. 



The Alpine species has a much longer bill than the lowland species 

 and has hardly any trace of the black pectoral patches which 

 characterize the Calandras. It has also a much longer and a 

 straighter claw. It is, however, hardly advisable to place the two 

 in separate genera as there are many points of resemblance between 

 them. 



In Melanocorypha the bill is thick and gently curved and the 

 nostrils are covered by plumelets ; the wing has ten primaries, the 

 first of which is very minute, and the wing is very long, reaching, 

 when folded, nearly to the tip of the tail ; the hind claw is very 

 long and straight. The sexes are alike or nearly so. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Wing about 6 and largely white M. maxima, p. 322. 



b. Wing about 4'5 and without any white M. bimaculata, p. 323. 



858. Melanocorypha maxima. The Long-billed Calandra Lark. 



Melanocorypha maxima, Gould, Birds As. iv, pi. 72 (1867) ; Hume, 

 8. F. i, p. 492 ; id. Cat. no. 761 quat. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, 

 p. 554. 



Coloration. Forehead, crown and nape, lower rump, and upper 

 tail-feathers rufous brown, each feather rnesially darker and edged 

 with pale fulvous ; back, scapulars, and upper rump dark brown, 

 with broad lateral fulvous margins and narrow tips ; the hind neck 

 and mantle suffused with ashy ; middle pair of tail-feathers brown 

 margined with tawny, the others black increasingly tipped with 

 white, the penultimate feather with half the outer web white, and 

 a broad tip to the inner web, the outermost feather with the terminal 



