1 874.] LARKS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. 637 



ashy brown narrowly margined with sandy white, the outer feathers 

 near the bend of the wing sandy white spotted with brown, the 

 centres of the feathers being of this colour ; " upper mandible horn- 

 colour, the lower one buff shading into dark horn-colour towards 

 the tip; legs pale brown; iris brown" {Shelley). Total length 

 68 inches, culmen 0*75, wing 4"0, tail 2 - 75, tarsus TO. 



Toung. Duller and more uniform brown than the adult, with 

 whitish edgings to the feathers of the crown, ear-coverts, and wing- 

 coverts, the greater series of the latter with sandy rufous margins ; 

 quills brown, paler towards the tips, and margined with sandy 

 rufous paling into whitish buff towards the tips of the secondaries ; 

 under surface of body white, the breast streaked with blackish 

 brown, each feather narrowly margined with whitish. 



Winter plumage. Duller and more ashy brown than in summer, 

 all the feathers obscured with greyish margins ; underneath more 

 yellowish, the spots on the breast duller and paler brown, and not 

 nearly so largely developed. 



Hab. The Cape colony, ranging into the eastern districts, and 

 northwards into Little Namaqua Land. 



As iu the other South-African Larks, great variation in size 

 of bill exists in the present species ; and the want of carefully sexed 

 specimens prevents my accounting for these differences ; but the 

 males seem to be rather larger, to judge from the following measure- 

 ments, the only ones in which I have any guide to the sexes. 



a, 2 ad. Stellendorf (G. E. Shelley). 



b, c? ad. Little Namaqua Land (An- 



dersson) 68 3-95 2'85 0"98 



Captain Shelley recently collected two birds in the Cape colony, 

 towards the end of January. They appear to be young birds, in 

 their first winter plumage, from which they are just emerging by a 

 moult ; but on the head the feathers have sandy-coloured margins. 

 The new feathers are much richer brown, almost black in the centre, 

 with rufescent margins; but these gradually get bleached in time. 



Specimens examined. 



E mus. Brit. : — a. S. Africa, b, c. Cape, d, $ ad. S. Africa 

 {Sir A. Smith), e. S. Africa (Andersson). 



Emus. R. B. S.: — a, ad. South Africa (Layard). b, juv. S. 

 Africa {Layard). c, c? ad. Little Namaqua Land, July 29th, 

 1862 (Andersson). d, e, d 2 ad- Hope Town (T. C. Atmore). 



E mus. G. E. Shelley: — a. Ceres, Cape colony, Jan. 28, 1874 

 (G. E. S.). b, 2 ad. Stellendorf, Cape colony, Jan. 23, 1864 

 {G. E. S.). 



E mus. H. B. Tristram : — a. South Africa (Layard). 



17. MlRAFRA. Type. 



Mirafra, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 159 (1820) M.javanica. 



* In the flesh ; 6-5 in skin. 



