106 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVII. 



two specimens ; these were very fat, in distinct contrast to all the 

 specimens of the last species, and it is in consequence probable 

 that these birds were migrating. On the next day a solitarj^ 

 individual was seen on a bare ridge some 900 feet lower but not 

 procured. The measurements of these two birds are given below 

 and while I hesitate to be dogmatic on two specimens, I am of 

 opinion that these birds belong to the same race as a small series 

 of Skylarks obtained near the Chenab in Jhang District during 

 the winter months. These from their very white underparts I 

 identify provisionally with that race of Skylark described in the 

 Hand-book of British Birds under the above name. 



No. Bill from sliull. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. 



2911. J 15-0 mm. 114 mm. 7.3-5 mm. 24 mm. 



2912. c? 15-5 mm. 116 76 25 

 My identification is however necessarilj^ provisional because of 



the situation outlined below. 



There is considerable difhculty over the question of the identi- 

 fication of Asiatic races of Alauda arvends, due to the absence of a 

 sufficient series of breeding birds to enable the number of real 

 races to be accurately discreminated. 



Yet initil such breeding races have been satisfactorily worked 

 out it is most unsatisfactory to endeavour to identify winter or 

 passage birds. This difticultj^ has not yet been circumvented, 

 and the situation is made much more difficult by the confusion in 

 the past between A. arvensis and A. giihjida. 



The latest examination of the Eastern Skylarks which I have 

 seen is that by Hartert (Vog. Pal. F. Vol. I, p. 247). Hartert 

 states that Alauda arvensis cinerea. Ehmeke, now corrected to A. 

 a. cinerascens Ehmeke {vide Hand-book of B. B. p. 166), is the 

 breeding bird of West Siberia, Turkestan and Persia, wintering 

 further South. He goes on to state that the birds which winter 

 in India and China may belong to that form, or to the Eastern 

 Asiatic form of Alauda arvensis inter^nedia., Swinhoe, or to the 

 su^jposed Himalayan breeding form which he states it is impossible 

 to be certain of until a series of breeding specimens is available 

 for examination. 



This unsatisfactory position led me to take up the question of 

 where these Himalayan birds breed, with the view of then con- 

 sidering how it might be possible to obtain a series. But an 

 examination of the literature of the subject has proved most un- 

 satisf actor J^ In short I begin to wonder whether there is a 

 breeding form in the Himalayas at all. The evidence on the 

 point appears to be as follows : — 



The Fauna of B. I. (Vol. II. 325), in which of course the Skylark 

 is treated as one species, identical in Europe and Asia, gives the 

 following account : — 



" Distribution. — The whole extent of the Himalayas from Hazara 

 and Kashmir to Assam, where the Skylark appears to be a con- 

 stant resident, moving about to different levels according to 

 season. In the winter many birds appear to visit the plains of the 

 Punjab and N.-W. Provinces and a lark killed by Dr. Anderson 

 near Bhamo in Upper Burma appears referable to this species." 



Under the next paragraph Habits it continues " Breeds in the 

 Himalayas in May and June " giving a brief description of nesting 

 habits. 



