FURTHER NOTES ON BIRDS ABOUT SIMLA. 105 



The Grey Wagtail, Motacilla cinerea, Tnnst. 



One was seen by me from the train on November 2nd in a 

 stream bed about 4,000 ft. 



The West-Himalayan Skylark, Alauda gulgula gnttata, Brooks. 



Here and there on the bare hill tops near Fagoo may be found 

 small semi-artificial ponds which are used for the watering of 

 local herds of cattle. The neighbourhood of these ponds is usual- 

 ly productive to the ornithologist as, for the most part, other 

 water is scarce. One pond that I paid particular attention t<» 

 was situated at 8,500 feet. The edges were made up with hard 

 earth, dry and baked in the sun ; the water was dark and muddy- 

 looking with no vegetation in it. Round about stretched an 

 expanse of coarse short rough grass and low moor-land plants, 

 scarred here and there by crevices cut into the hard ground by 

 the draining away of rain water, and amply studded with stones. 

 On one side rose the still bleaker summit of the hill to another 

 200 feet or so, terraced all up its sides with that curious forma- 

 tion of natural steps so familiar to those who live near the Kentish 

 and Sussex downs. The locality thus described was quite small 

 in extent. 



Here on November 15th I found a number of these Skylarks 

 and met with them again on subsequent dates about the same 

 place, which they were never willing to leave if it could possibly 

 be avoided : a few others were occasionally met on the bare 

 summits of neighbouring ridges. 



Having previous acquaintance with the difiiculty of identifying 

 races of Larks I was careful to procure a series of sis specimens. 

 These on comparison with a series of A. g. gidgtda from the 

 Punjab plains (Ludhiana, Jhang) prove to be much larger birds, 

 and darker in colour with less rufous on the upper surface. These 

 are exactly the differences pointed out by Hartert (Vog. P. P., 

 Vol. I., p. 247) between Alauda g. gidgida and A. g. gtdfata, for which 

 latter race he gives only the locality of Cashmere. The measure- 

 juents of the two races he gives respectively as : — A. g. gulgida, 

 wing 83-97 mm., A. g. gidtata , w'mc, !I5-102 mm., exceptionally up to- 

 107 mm. 



The measurements of my specimens are appended below, and I 

 have no hesitation in referring them to A. g. guttata : 

 No. Bill from skull. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. 



No bird shows any trace of moult. The soft parts in all were 

 similar, viz. : iris olive brown : bill horny ; culmen and tip blackish ; 

 mouth yellowish ; legs pale reddish brown ; joints and claws dusky : 

 soles yellowish. 

 The Eastern Skylark, Alauda ai-vensis cinerascens, Ehmeke. 



In the locality described under the last species I found a flock 

 of Skylarks on November 15th and with some difficulty procured 

 11 



