Vol. XXXV.] 10 



thicker than those of the Eremophila, and the ground-colour 

 is either pale buff with a reddish hue, slightly brownish, or 

 white; the markings are often large, and a ring round the 

 thick end is frequent ; finely spotted eggs are also not rare, 

 and may have a white ground-colour. 



" Ammomanes phoenicurus areiiicolor. The North- African 

 Bar-tailed Desert-Lark. 



'^The middle of April is obviously the best season in 

 which to find clutches, though some birds nest much earlier, 

 as we have found young birds flying about at that time. 

 The clutches consist of two or three eggs. These are nearly 

 always pure white and have fine spots and dots ; larger 

 markings are rare, and eggs with a buff" ground-colour and 

 more rufescent patches are uncommon; in fact, I should 

 have doubted the identity of the few specimens of that 

 description which we collected, if I had not on several occa- 

 sions seen the parent-bird building and sitting on the nest ; 

 moreover, one egg in each clutch was white. The eggs are 

 of the same shape as those of A. d. algeriensis, but con- 

 siderably smaller and nearly always white. Large eggs of 

 A. p. arenicolor and small ones of ^. d. algeriensis might be 

 mistaken if the latter are of the white variety, but generally 

 the two are easily distinguishable. 



" Calandrella brachydactyla rubiginosa. The Desert Short- 

 toed Lark. 



" This species is generally rare in the Western Sahara 

 during the breeding- season, but on the plateau between the 

 Oued Nya and Guerrara a good many pairs are to be found 

 nesting. The eggs are easily distinguished from those of 

 the two Algerian Ammomanes, but exceptionally elongated 

 specimens may sometimes be mistaken for small eggs of 

 Eremophila bilopha; as a rule, however, the latter are larger, 

 more elongated, and very seldom have a greenish tinge, 

 which is not rare in the eggs of Calandrella. The nests 

 do not seem ever to have a ring of stones around them. 

 The principal breeding-season. in Algeria seems to be the 

 latter part of April and the early part of May.'-* 



