376 CERTHILAUDA 



middle rectrices sandy isabelline, the rest blackish, the outermost with the 

 outer web white ; sides of the face marked with black ; supercilium dull 

 white ; under parts white, the breast washed with grey and spotted with 

 blackish brown ; beak horn-brown ; legs china- white ; iris brown. 

 Culmen 1'15, wing 4*7, tail 3*55, tarsus 1'3 inch. Sexes alike. The 

 variation in colour is considerable, some specimens being much greyer than 

 others, but the extreme of the grey and rufous forms are both found in 

 N. Africa. 



Hob. North Africa down to about 16 N. lat. ; Cape 

 Verde Islands ; Arabia ; Palestine, where it is rare ; Persia ; 

 Afghanistan, Sind, and Cutch ; is said to occur rarely north of 

 the Mediterranean. 



This is essentially a desert form, avoiding cultivated places and 

 inhabiting only the sandy flat desert, .and is always found singly 

 or in pairs and never in flocks. Its flight resembles that of the 

 Hoopoe, and on the ground it runs swiftly, like a Cursorius. 

 Though usually seen on the ground it occasionally perches on 

 a bush. It feeds on coleoptera and other insects, and on seeds. 

 Its song, which consists only of three or four notes, is a 

 melancholy querulous whistle. It is resident throughout its 

 range and breeds in April. The nest, which is placed on the 

 ground, is constructed of twigs of desert bushes and grass-bents, 

 interwoven with spiders' webs and lined with cottony portions 

 of plants. The eggs, usually 3 in number, are greyish white 

 with pale ashy shell-blotches and clay-brown spots and dots 

 which are more numerous at the larger end, and measure about 

 0-79 by 0-59. 



540. DUPONT'S LARK. 

 CERTHILAUDA DUPONTI. 



Certhilauda duponti (Vieill.), Faun. Franc,, p. 173, pi. 76, fig. 2 (1820) ; 

 Dresser, iv. p. 279, pi. 227 ; (Sharpe) Cat. B. Br. Mus. xiii. p. 526 ; 

 C. margaritce, Koenig, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 228, Taf. ii. 



( ad. (N. Africa). Crown, nape, and upper parts rufous brown, the 

 feathers margined with creamy buff or dirty white, those forming a mesial 

 stripe, one above and behind each eye, and the sides of the nape with broad 

 white margins ; quills dark brown margined with white and creamy brown, 

 the secondaries tipped, the inner ones margined on both webs, with pale 

 creamy brown ; middle rectrices pale reddish brown, the rest brown ; 

 the outermost chiefly white : a dark streak on each side of the throat, and 

 the lower throat and breast spotted with brown and rufous ; rest of under 

 parts white ; the sides of the head and lower breast washed with pale rufous 



