MELANOCORYPHA 383 



Calandre, French ; Alondra-calandria,Spa,iL. ; Cochico, Portug. ; 

 Calandra, Ital. ; Kalanderlerche, German ; Bolchoi-stepnoi- 

 Javronok, Russ. 



<$ ad. (Crimea). Crown, nape, and upper parts, including the lesser 

 wing-coverts fulvous grey, the feathers dark brown in the middle ; wings 

 dark brown, the primaries narrowly, the secondaries broader margined 

 with buffy white, the latter broadly tipped with white, the larger and 

 median coverts margined with Avarm buff ; middle rectrices brown, mar- 

 gined with fulvous buff, the rest blackish brown, the outer ones tipped 

 with white, the two outermost almost all white ; lores and supercilium dull 

 white ; chin, throat, and under parts white, on each side of the neck a 

 large black patch ; upper breast tinged with fulvous and streaked with 

 brown ; flanks washed with buffy grey ; beak horn-brown, reddish at base 

 below ; legs reddish brown ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0'75, wing 5*3, 

 tail 2 '8, tarsus T05 inch. The female is smaller, has the neck patches 

 smaller, the neck spotted with black, and is generally more rufous in tinge. 



Hcib. Central and Southern Europe, N. Africa, Palestine, 

 Asia Minor ; east through Persia to Afghanistan and Turkestan ; 

 of doubtful occurrence in Great Britain. 



Inhabits both the hills and plains, cultivated and wild fallow 

 land, and is wild and wary. Its song is rich and melodious, and 

 for that reason it is often kept as a cage bird. It is also said to 

 be a good mimic. It feeds on insects, worms, and seeds, and is 

 partial to dusting itself in the sand. Nidification commences 

 in May, and two broods are generally reared in the season. In 

 the summer it is found in pairs, and in the winter in small 

 families, seldom or never in large flocks. The nest, which is 

 placed on the ground, usually in a field or on a plain, is 

 constructed of grass-bents, plant-stems, and rootlets, and the 

 eggs, 4 to 5 in number, are buffy grey, dull white, or olive-green, 

 with ash-grey shell and liver-brown or nut-brown surface-spots 

 and blotches, and average about 0*95 by 0'72. Specimens from 

 Albania and Dalmatia have the upper parts darker and the 

 black on the neck more extended, almost confluent in front. 



550. LONG-BILLED CALANDKA LARK. 

 MELANOCORYPHA MAXIMA. 



Melanocorypha maxima, Gould, B, of As. iv. pi. 72 (1867) ; Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. Br. Mus. xiii. p. 554 ; Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 322. 



JavronoJc- Velikan, Russ. 



ad. (Kan-su). Differs from M. calantfra in being much larger and 

 in having the black patches on the sides of the neck nearly obsolete ; 



