

S12 Confribufions to the Ornithology of India, 8fc. 



suitable localities,, and all tlie way up tlie Mekran Coast I met 

 with it whenever and wherever we landed. It is a perfectly- 

 fearless and familiar bird^ and when shot at g-enerally drops^ if not 

 woiuided, at a few yards distance and -seeks safety by squatting", 

 when it is impossible even at a couple of yards distance to make 

 <5ut its whereabouts, so perfectly does its sober garb harmonize 

 with the barren localities it affects. Further north, it is equally 

 common in the salt range, in the hills that encircle the 

 Peshawur valley, and Hazara. 



760.— Pyrrhiilauda grisea, Scop. 



This little lark was common enough throughout Sindh. We 

 generally met with it scratching about in the dust of the roads 

 with which the color of its upper surface harmonizes admirably. 

 A rather fine male measured in the flesh was, length, 5 ; ex- 

 panse, 9'7; wing, 3 ; tail from vent, 1*95; wings, when closed, 

 reached to within 0*61 of end of tail; bill at front, 0"35 ; weight, 

 0-5 oz. 



760 &is.— Pyrrhulauda affinis, Blyth. 



I did not myself meet with this species in Sindh, but Mr. 

 Blanford sent me a single male which he shot near Kurrachee. 

 In this the wing measures 3"16 ; and the bill at front, 0*43. 



This bird which I have now received from both Sindh and 

 Muttra is very close indeed to grisea. Females I have not yet 

 procured ; the males diifer from those of grisea, first in having 

 a considerably larger bill, and a slightly larger wing ; and second- 

 ly, in having the whole crown and occiput unicolorous with the 

 eye streak, lores, chin, throat, &c., leaving only a short broad 

 white band on the forehead. The upper surface of the body 

 is also slightly more rufous and less grey than in grisea. Mr. 

 Elyth describes the species thus : " Crown of the male black 

 with broad white forehead, and small blackish spot on the nape, 

 less developed than in the Nubian Bird ;" but neither of my 

 specimens shew the slightest indication of any dark spot on the 

 nape, to which the chocolate black of the crown very nearly 

 descends en masse. The females would probably be distinguish- 

 ed by the lai'ger size of the bill. 



Mr. Blanford suggests that this species ''^should becompared 

 with P. albifrons Sund j" but I fancy he means rather frontalis 

 of Licht, from Nubia, and not frontalis, Bonap, which latter 

 Mr. Gray identifies with both albifrons, Sund, and nigriceps, 

 G-ould, a Cape Verde Island and Canary^ species, with which our 

 bird could scarcely be identical, though it might be with the 

 Nubian. 



