392 CORYDUS 



south as the Gambia; Asia from North Turkestan to Central 

 India and east to China, not occurring as far north as Siberia. 

 In Southern India a fairly separable form, G. malabarica, is 

 resident. 



Frequents plains, and to some extent also hilly districts, is 

 often seen on roads, and in villages and towns, and affects 

 inhabited localities, fields, and both cultivated and uncultivated 

 places, Throughout its range it is a resident or a partial 

 migrant, according to locality. Its call-note is a soft, low 

 whistle, and its song, which is generally uttered whilst the 

 bird is on the wing, but sometimes also when it is sitting on 

 the ground, is clear, sweet, and well modulated. Its nest, 

 which is constructed of grass-bents, weeds, rootlets, and is 

 sometimes lined with a few horse-hairs, is placed on the 

 ground, and usually in close proximity to human habitations, 

 and the eggs, from 4 to 6 in number, are greyish white, some- 

 times with a brown or greenish tinge, and are marked with 

 purplish grey or pale brown shell-blotches, and pale or dark 

 brown surface-spots and blotches, and in size average about 

 O91 by 0'62. They are deposited from the middle of 

 April to the middle of June. The food of the Crested Lark 

 consists chiefly of seeds of various kinds, but also of insects. 



559. SUBSP. CORYDUS ISABELLINUS. 



Corydus isabellinus, Bp. Conspect. i. p. 245 (1850) ; (Dresser), iv. p. 303, 

 pi. 230, fig. 1 ; (Sharpe), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xiii. p. 635 ; (Koenig.), 

 J.f.O. 1895, Tab. vii ; G. abyssinica, Bp. ut supra, (1850). 



< ad. (N. Africa). Differs from G. cristata in being much paler, the 

 upper parts being rufescent isabelline with faintly darker centres, the 

 under parts white, the breast indistinctl} 7 - spotted with pale sandy brown ; 

 bill brownish above, pale flesh colour below ; legs pale flesh ; iris brown. 

 Culmen 0*62, wing 4*0, tail 2'7, tarsus I'O inch. The female is similar 

 but a trifle smaller. 



Hob. The desert portions of North Africa (Algeria, Tunis, 

 and Egypt), ranging east as far as Abyssinia, everywhere 

 resident. 



Frequents the true desert and varies somewhat in tone of 

 colour according to the nature of the soil. In general habits 

 it resembles G. cristata, but its song is described as being 

 infinitely superior to the song of that bird. Its eggs are 

 bluish white in ground colour marked all over with pale ash, 

 clay-yellow and blackish brown spots and blotches, and are 

 usually deposited in May. 



