AND ALU 81 AN SHORT-TOED LARK. 117 



GRANIVORiE. 



Family ALAUBIDM. 



Genus Alauda. (Linnmus.) 



Sub-genus Calandrella. fKaup.J 



ANDALUSIAN SHORT-TOED LARK. 



Alauda bcetica, 

 Calandrella bcetica, Dresser; B. of E., part 21. 



This is another of the Short-toed Lark series, which was discovered 

 by Lord Lilford in Andalusia in 1872, and which has been described 

 by Mr. Dresser as a distinct species in his " Birds of Europe." 



Lord Lilford described this bird as Calandrella minor, Cab., in a 

 letter inserted in the "Ibis" for 1872, p. 98, in the following words: — 



"During my visit to the south of Spain last spring, I fell in near 

 Seville with a Short-toed Lark, which I at once recognized as dis- 

 tinct from the ordinary C. brachydactyla, from which species it is 

 distinguished by its grey shade of colouring, as well as its distinctly 

 striped upper surface and breast. Mr. Sharpe, to whom I submitted 

 my specimens, has come to the conclusion, after careful comparison, 

 that the Lark is not new, but is C. rebouda in full breeding plumage." 



Mr. Dresser adds: — "Quite lately, when working at the Short-toed 

 Larks, Mr. Howard Saunders brought to me a single specimen which 

 had been sent to him from the south of Spain, and which he thought 

 would prove to be distinct. After comparing it with a large series 

 of Short-toed Larks, I was convinced that it was a perfectly new 

 bird, and advised him to describe it; but on showing it to Lord 

 Lilford, he at once pronounced it to be the same as the two spe- 

 cimens above referred to, and on obtaining these specimens from Mr. 

 Sharpe, this proved to be the case. That it is a perfectly distinct 

 and good species there can be no doubt, as the present bird is very 



