214 Contributions to the Ornitliology of India, Sfc. 



or slightly greyish white. The central tail feathers browo, 

 somewhat conspicuously margined with brownish or fulvous 

 white. The exterior tail feather on either side wholly white, ex- 

 cept a dark brown stripe down the inner margin of the inner 

 web. The next feather with the whole exterior web, pure white; 

 interior web, dark brown ; other tail feathers dark brown, very 

 narrowly margined with dull white. The lores and a stripe over 

 and under the eye, white or rufescent white ; a very narrow grey 

 line through the centre of the lores only noticeable in very good 

 specimens or in the fresh bird ; ear coverts mingled grey brown, 

 and fulvous white, and usually exhibiting a somewhat darker spot 

 just behind and below the posterior angle of the eye ; the whole 

 lower parts white, with, in some, a very faint rufescent tinge on 

 breast, sides, and flanks, and with numerous narrow or linear 

 darkish brown spots on the breast, very strongly marked and 

 conspicuous in some specimens, reduced almost to speckles in 

 other birds. The flanks and sides are faintly tinged with brown, 

 or in some, pale rufescent. So far the plumage corresponds very 

 closely to that of raytal ; but the difference in the bills is so 

 very conspicuous, that it can only be compared to that between 

 those of Melcmocorypha maxima and M. tatarica, of which they 

 are respectively minatures. 



One stage of the plumage of A. Adamsi deserves special men- 

 tion, because I have observed nothing analogous in A. raytal. 

 Only one single specimen in my museum, which was sent me 

 from Murdan, and which I owe to Captain Unwin, exhibits this 

 stage. The date on which it was procured has, unfortunately, 

 not been noted, but I conclude it to be the nuptial garb. 



In this stage each primary has a broad subterminal somewhat 

 silvery, or slightly greyish white band, which, except in the first 

 two or three, extends over both webs ; the outer webs of the 

 three tail feathers, next the central ones, become almost wholly of 

 this color, and the inner webs are greatly blanched, or, more 

 properly, appear to be overlaid with the same greyish white. Is 

 this an accidental variety ? There is nothing in the single speci- 

 men before me to decide the question. 



7^9.— Galerida cristata, L. 



The crested lark, as might be expected, is excessively abun- 

 dant throughout Sindh, as it is indeed throughout Kajpootana, 

 the Punjab, Oudh, and the North-Western Provinces. As usual 

 the plumage is excessively variable, but most of the Sindh birds 

 belong to one of two types, the grey brown and the desert or 

 isabelline. I at one time believed that these were divisible speci- 

 fically, but the examination of large series convinces me that no 



