282 ALAUDTNJE. 



THE SMALL CROWN CREST LARK. 



Length, 5 '5 to 575 ; wing, 3'4 ; tail, 2 ; bill at front, 0'5 ; 

 tarsus, 075. 



Bill horny-brown, yellowish beneath ; irides dark-brown ; feet 

 fleshy-brown. 



Upper part, including the crest, isabelline or rufous-brown, 

 with black mesial streaks ; upper tail -co verts rufescent without 

 streaks ; the first long primary broadly edged with rufescent, 

 and the outermost tail-feathers and most of the penultimate of 

 the same hue, with a few dusky striae on the breast, and paling 

 on the throat. 



The Small Crown Crest Lark is a common permanent resident 

 in the Deccan, and is also common at Mhow and Neemuch, 

 Central India. 



It breeds from July to September, making a small cup-shaped 

 nest on the ground, in a slight depression, under a tuft of grass. 

 The eggs, two or three in number, are moderately broad ovals 

 in shape, of a dull white color, profusely spotted, speckled, and 

 blotched with dull yellowish-brown and dingy inky-purple. 

 They measure 0'87 inches in length and about 0*65 in breadth. 



Spizalauda malabarica, Scop. 



765fo's. Butler, Guzerat ; Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 1 ; Deccan, 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 418 ; Swinhoe and Barnes, Central 

 India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 130. 



THE LARGE CROWN CREST LARK. 



Differs from deva in being darker in plumage, more rufous 

 above, and whiter beneath, and has larger and more numerous 

 breast spots. 



This Lark is not uncommon in parts of the Deccan and Nor- 

 thern Guzerat. 



GENUS, Alauda, Lin. 



Bill moderate, nearly straight, conical or subulate, slender ; 

 wings long, the first primary exceedingly minute, and the next 

 four sub-equal, the fifth in some decidedly shorter ; tips of the 

 lesser quills ernarginated ; tail short or moderate, forked ; tarsus 

 somewhat lengthened ; feet large ; hind-claw very long ; coronal 

 feathers elongated and forming a full cresE 



Alauda gulgula, Franklin. 



767. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 434 ; Butler, Guzerat ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IV, p. 2 ; Deccan, Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, 

 p. 419 ; Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 197 ; Swinhoe 

 and Barnes, Central India ; Ibis, 1885, p. 130. 



THE INDIAN SKY LARK. 



Length, 6 to 6'5 ; wing, 3'25 to 375 ; tail, 2 to 2'25 ; tarsus, 1 : 

 bill at front, 0'5. 



