636 MIRAFRA AFFINIS. 



enclosures, and dry pasture-land surrounded by trees. It is also found in open spots in the heart of the jungle 

 and round the borders of tanks and salt-water estuaries and lagoons. It is to some extent arboreal, especially 

 in the breeding-season, when the male constantly mounts to the topmost branch of some dead or scraggy tree, 

 and pours out his little love-song, launching himself out into the air, and descending rapidly, with increasing 

 fervour of note, to the vicinity of the nest, where his partner is patiently performing the duties of incubation. 

 It is not gregarious, but usually lives in pairs, several of which, however, occupy contentedly the same locality, 

 passing their time in catching insects, and feeding likewise on grass-seeds, varying the monotony of the 

 noonday heat by now and then flying up into the air, or alighting on trees and bushes, from which they 

 give out their long-drawn sibilant whistle, tseee-tseee-tseee. These Larks do not mount to any height, nor do 

 they remain any time in the air; their actions are Pipit-like, for after reaching the altitude to which they wish 

 to ascend, they quickly sail down again with upturned wings, continuing the note they commenced with on 

 leaving the ground until they realight, when it is suddenly hushed. They often descend to a low tree or bush, 

 and sometimes continue their notes for a few seconds. Mr. Ball remarks that it is a very early bird, some- 

 times singing before dawn. 



Nidification. — In the Western Province, the Bush-Lark breeds in May and June, and in the north some- 

 what earlier, commencing about March. It nests in a little depression in the ground, generally beneath the 

 shelter of a tuft of grass or tussock of rushes. It sometimes, however, in sandy soil excavates a hollow itself, 

 and therein it constructs its nest. It is a loosely-made cup of dry grass and fine roots of herbs, measuring 

 about three inches wide by two in depth ; the top is flush with the surface of the soil, and over the nest the 

 adjacent blades of grass are bent, or arranged so as to conceal it. The eggs are nearly always two in number, 

 stumpy ovals in shape, and of a greenish-white ground-colour, boldly marked almost equally throughout with 

 light umber-brown and blackish-brown spots, the latter being small in some and large in other eggs. 



The young become fledged very rapidly, flying in about a fortnight from the time they are hatched. The 

 old birds are very zealous in their attempts to draw off intruders from their young, running along the ground 

 with trailing wings, or feigning lameness or incapacity to fly ! 



Genus PYRRHTJLAUDA. 



Bill short, stout, conical, the culmen much curved ; gape angulated ; margin of under 

 mandible slightly concave. Nostrils basal, round, and concealed by tufts. Wings long, the 

 tertials elongated; 1st quill equal to the primary-coverts, the 2nd and 3rd equal and longest. 

 Tail moderate, emarginate at the tip. Tarsus short, covered in front and behind with broad but 

 smooth scales. Feet small, with the lateral toes equal and the claws straight ; the hind claw 

 stout and considerably longer than the anterior ones. 



N.B. — The hindermost tarsal scales are very plainly developed in this genus. 





