NOTE ON THE SYNONYMY OF SPIZALAUDA. 241 
Spizalauda simillima, Hume, J. A. 8. B., 1870, XX XIX, pt. 
2, p. 120; Stray Feathers, I, p. 389; Nests and Eggs, p. 484. 
This species appears to have a wide range in India, being 
found according to Hume, Jerdon, and other observers, in the 
Punjab, N. W. Provinces, Oudh, Behar, parts of the Central 
Provinces, and throughout the greater portion of the peninsula, 
keeping mainly to the drier parts, and being more common on 
the plateau than near the coast. It is not known to occur in 
Lower Bengal, or in the dry desert parts of Western India. It 
ranges, however, to the extreme south of India, and should not 
therefore I think be called the “ northern crown-crest.” The 
term “ crown-crest”’ is a very good one. 
As compared with the next species this bird is smaller, rather 
paler and greyer in colour above, and in general, I think, much 
less spotted on the breast, whilst the crest is longer. A male mea- 
sures :—Wing, 3752; tail, 27-1; tarsus, 08; hind toe and 
claw, 0°-67 ; culmen, 0"°67 ; bill at front, 0’-48, and the length is 
recorded by Mr. Fairbank as 6 inches.* A female has :—Wing, 
3”°2; tail, 19; tarsus, 0”°8; hind toe and claw, 07; culmen, 
0”°65; bill at front, 0”-48; length (recorded) 5’°6. The mea- 
surement of the female agrees well with the dimensions (all 
of females) given by Mr. Hume for S. simillima. 
2. A. (Spizalauda) MALABARICA. 
TL’ Alouette huppée de la edte de Malabar, Sonnerat, Voyage 
aux Indes Orientales, IV, p. 266, pl. 111, fig. 1 (edition of 
1806.)+ 
Alauda malabarica, Scopoli, Deliciz faune et flore insu- 
brice. { 
Malabar lark, Latham, Gen Syn. IT, pt. 2, p. 379. 
Alauda malabarica, Gmel. Syst. Nat. I, pt. 2, p. 795; Blyth, 
J. A. S. B., XXIX, 1860, p. 96; Jerdon, Birds of India, 
Na-i6o, IF -p. 456; W. Blant., J. A. S. Boy seo 
XXXVIIT, pt. 2, p. 183; Gray, Hand List, II, p. 117, 
No. 7748; Brooks, Stray Feathers, I, p. 486. 
Spizalauda deva, Hume, J. A. 8. B., 1870, XXXIX, pt. 2, 
Geld. 
P Spizalauda malabarica, Hume, 8. F., 1., p. 389 note, and 
486 note; W. Blanf., Ibis, 1873, p. 222 ;? Hayes Lloyd, ib., p. 
414; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 483. 
Found in many parts of Southern India, especially near the 
western coast,on the range of the Western Ghats, keeping 
* This appears to be a rather large specimen. In another male in the Indian 
Museum the wing is 3” 45, 
+ There was an earlier edition of this book, which was that quoted by Latham 
and Gmelin. Possibly in that edition the plate is 113, as quoted by most authors. 
The later edition is alone available in Calcutta. 
{ I have not access to this work at present. To the best of my recollection 
Alauda malabarica is stated in it to have been brought from China! 
