240 NOTE ON THB SYNONYMY OF SPIZALAUDA. 
I adopted Mr. Hume’s view of the identity of A. deva with 
the larger Spizalauda in some notes published in the Ibis for 
1873. I was in England at the time, but owing to the ex- 
treme care which was then taken of the natural history collec- 
tions belonging to the old Hast India Company by the India 
Office officials, all the types of Sykes were packed away in a 
warehouse and preserved from the outer world. However, I 
looked forward to an opportunity for a direct comparison. Last 
year, as all the world knows, the big bazar at South Kensing- 
ton having come to the end of its resources, and being very 
hard up for specimens of some kind to fill its empty g calleri ies, 
took compassion on the imprisoned Indian Museum collections. 
At the same time I received from Mr. Fairbank specimens of both 
forms of Spizalauda, the larger from Mahableshwar, the smaller 
from near Ahmednagar. I ‘sent skins of both to Mr. Dresser, 
and Indian ornithologists are indebted to this gentleman for 
settling this vexed question by comparing the birds with 
Sykes? types. Mr. Dresser writes to me that the smaller form 
is unmistakably Sykes’ species, thus confirming Jerdon’s 
nomenclature. 
I give the corrected synonymy of the two birds below. 
I must say that I much doubt whether the section to which 
they belong really deserves generic separation from dlauda, 
Its seems to me that these birds scarcely differ sufficiently 
from the Skylarks either in strueture or habits to justify more 
than sub-generic distinction. I have never had an opportunity 
of observing either species in the breeding season, but Mr. 
Fairbank writes to me that the smaller form, the true Alauda 
deva, rises into the air singing precisely like a Skylark, and 
although we are assured on equally good authority (Nests and 
Eggs, p. 483) that A. malabarica does not sing when flying, 
it is impossible to place two birds so closely allied in different 
genera, and it is the smaller form, A. deva, which is the type of 
Spizalauda. 
1. ALAUDA (Spizalauda) DEVA. 
Alauda deva, Sykes, P. Z. S., 1832, p. 92. 
Mirafra Hay, Jerdon, Blyth, ca a B., XIII, 1844, 
p- 959; Jerdon, 2nd Supp. Cat. No. 188 bcs, Mad. Jour. |, XU 
p. 136. 
Spizalauda Hayi, Blyth, J. A. 8. B., XXIV,* 1855, p. 258, 
note. 
Spizalauda deva, Jerdon, Birds of India, II, p. 4382. 
Alauda (Spizalauda) deva, Gray, Hand List, I, p. 118, 
No. 7761. 
* Misquoted XIV in Jerdon’s birds, a misquotation which cost me more than an 
hour’s work to rectify. 
