349 



CALANDKELLA MINOR 



(LESSER SHORT-TOED LARK.) 



Calandritis minor, Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 123, " N.-E. Africa" (1850). 

 Calandrella ferruginea, A. Brehm, Naumannia, 1856, p. 375, " Kordofan." 

 Calandrella reboudia, Loche, Revue et Mag. de Zool. p. 148, "Algeria" (1860). 

 Calandrella deserti, Tristr. Ibis, 1866, p. 286, " Palestine;" Wyatt, Ibis, 1870, p. 16, "Sinai, 



marshes near Tor." 

 Calandritis reboudia (Loche), Heuglin, Orn. N.-O. Africa's, p. 696. no. 581, "N.-E. Africa" 



(1871). 

 Calandritis minor, Cab., Heugl. torn. cit. p. 697. no. 582, "Arabia, Egypt, Nubia" (1871). 



Figura unica. 

 Loche, torn. cit. pi. 11. fig. 1. 



d ad. Calandrella pispoletta similis sed minor, tertiariis longioribus : supra pallide rufescenti-arenarius, plumis 

 omnibus medialiter fusco striatis : subtus albus : pectore delicate fusco striato : hypochondriis rufescente 

 cervino adumbratis et indistinete striatis : rostro flavicanti-corneo, culmine magis fuscescente : pedibus 

 pallide brunneis : iride brunnea. 



Adult Male in winter (Hadjira, 23rd December). Resembles C. pispoletta, but is much smaller in size, and 

 more rufous sandy in colour on the upper parts, not having the grey tinge so characteristic of C. pispo- 

 letta ; the inner secondaries much longer than in that species, reaching to within nearly half an inch 

 of the tip of the first primary ; underparts white ; breast narrowly striated with dark brown ; flanks 

 delicately striped with light brown, and washed with pale rufous buff; soft parts as in C. pispoletta. 

 Total length 5 - 5 inches, culmen 045, wing 35, tail 2 - 05, tarsus 0"73, hind toe with claw 06. 



Adult Female in breeding -plumage (El Djem, May 1857, taken on her nest) . Rather duller in colour than 

 the specimen last described, the stripes on the breast less distinct and duller ; flanks washed with darker 

 rufous buff; upper parts duller in colour, the feathers being somewhat abraded and worn. 



This species, closely resembling Calandrella pispoletta, but differing in being smaller in size and 

 much more rufous and less grey in colour, is found in Northern Africa and Palestine, and may 

 possibly occur in Europe, as I have a single specimen obtained in Malta in November 1862 by 

 Mr. C. A. Wright, who sent it to me labelled C. brachydactyla. In Algeria it is common ; and 

 Major Loche, who described it from there under the name of C. reboudia, writes that it "is very 

 numerous in the Algerian Sahara, where, after the breeding-season, it collects in small flocks, 

 affecting the dry arid country, and, being shy, is difficult to shoot." Canon Tristram writes that 

 he met with it in Algeria, where it is " a permanent resident in the Desert, and has a wide lateral 

 range, as I have obtained it in the western Sahara, and have received a female, with a nest of 



3q 



