ALAUDULA. 331 



Distribution. Found on the sand-banks of all the large rivers of 

 the North-west Provinces, the Nepal Terai, Oudh, Behar, and 

 Bengal. This Lark is also found along the banks of the 

 Brahmaputra, and it occurs on the Irrawaddy river, on which it 

 IIM* been procured near Bhtimo and Thayetrnyo. Barnes records 

 this Lark from Neemuch in Rajputana, and Hume from the sand- 

 banks of the Nerbudda river, but I have seen no specimens from 

 these localities. 



Habits, fa. Breeds from March to May or June, making a small 

 cup-shaped nest of grass or leaflets in a hollow on a sand-bank, 

 under shelter of a shrub or stone, and laying two or three eggs, 

 which are greyish white, speckled with yellowish brown, and 

 measure about '75 by '55. 



867. Alaudula adamsi. The Indus Sand-Lark. 



Alauda adamsi, Hume, Ibis, 1871, p. 405. 



Alaudula adamsi (Hume), Hume, S.F.\, p. 213 ; id. N. $ E. p. 482 ; 



id. Cat. no. 702 ter : Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 280 ; Sharp*, Cat. B. 



M. xiii, p. 592; Oates in Hume's N. $ E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 226. 



Coloration. Resembles A. raytal, but has a very much smaller 

 bill, and, generally, a shorter wing and tail*. 



Bill fleshy, dark brown on culmen and tip, with a slight shade 

 of horny blue on lower mandible ; legs and feet brownish flesh ; 

 iris brown (Butler}. 



Length about 5'5 ; tail 1-8 ; wing 3'2 ; tarsus '75 ; bill from 

 gape '55 ; bill from tip to forehead *4. 



Distribution. Sind, and along all the large rivers of the Punjab, 

 as far east as the Jumna. 



Habits, <$fc. Breeds in March, April, and May : the mode of 

 nidification of this species does not appear to differ in any 

 important particular from that of A. raytal. 



868. Alaudula persica. Sharpens Sand-Lark. 



Alauda pispoletta, Pall., Hume, Ibis, 1870, p. 531. 



Alaudula pispoletta (Pall.), Hume, S. F. vii, p. 528 ; id. Cat. no. 762 



bis. 

 Alaudula persica, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii, p. 590 (1890). 



Coloration. Upper plumage sandy fulvous, each feather with a 

 narrow dark brown shaft-streak ; wings dark brown margined with 

 sandy fulvous ; middle pair of tail-feathers brown broadly margined 

 \\ilh fulvous ; the next three pairs dark brown with narrow mar- 

 gins ; the penultimate dark brown on the inner web, white on the 

 outer ; the outermost feather white, with the inner half of the inner 



* A. adamsi is said to be larger than A. raytal, but a series of measurements 

 of both taken by me has convinced me that the contrary is the case. 



