384 MELANOCOEYPHA 



upper parts, wings, and tail as in J/. calandra, except that the 

 quills are more broadly tipped with white and the plumage is darker ; 

 under parts white, the breast washed with ashy grey, and with a few faint 

 brown spots ; an obsolete dark patch on each side of the breast ; bill long 

 and slightly curved. Culmen I'l, wing 6'05, tail 3*7, tarsus 1*15, hind- 

 toe with claw 1'2 inch. The female is smaller and has a smaller bill. The 

 young bird is nearly black above, the feathers margined with fulvous buff, 

 the breast-feathers blackish margined with yellowish, the rest of the under 

 parts pale yellow. 



Hob. The elevated portions of Sikhim and Tibet to Kan-su 

 and Koko-nor. 



Inhabits the marshy meadows in the mountains, and in the 

 winter collects in large flocks. Its song is very loud and said 

 to be good, and the bird is an excellent mimic. Nothing is as 

 yet known respecting its modification. 



551. EASTERN CALANDRA LARK. 

 MELANOCORYPHA BIMACULATA. 



MelanocorypTia bimaculata (Menetr.), Cat. Rais. p. 37 (1832) ; Dresser, 

 iv. p. 361, pi. 238, figs. 2, 3 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xiii. p. 555 ; 

 Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, ii. p. 323 ; M. torqitata, Blyth, J.A.S.B. 

 xvi. p. 476 (1847) ; Hume and Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 265, 

 pi. 27. 



g ad. (Turkestan). Differs from M. calandra in being smaller and in 

 lacking the white tips to the secondaries, and the white on the outer tail- 

 feathers, and all but the central ones are conspicuously tipped with white, 

 the black also extends across the breast ; bill horn-brown, the under 

 mandible yellowish, legs fleshy brown ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0'7, 

 wing 4*75, tail 2'5, tarsus I'O inch. Sexes alike. 



Hob. N.E. Africa, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, the Caucasus, 

 Transcaspia, Persia, Afghanistan, and Turkestan, Siberia as 

 far north as Irkutsk, and Krasnoyarsk; wintering in Sind, 

 Rajputana, Bahawalpur, the Punjab, the N.W. Provinces of 

 India, and Oudh. 



Frequents dry sandy localities, both cultivated and fallow, 

 and stubble-fields. In the winter it collects in large flocks, and 

 roams about the country in search of food, and it is said to be a 

 somewhat shy and wary bird. Its song is loud and sweet, and 

 it is a favourite cage bird with the Afghans. It places its nest, 

 like M. calandra, on the ground, constructing it of grass-bents, 

 and portions of dry plants, lined with the same, but somewhat 



