359 



Genus MELANOCORYPHA. 



Alauda apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 288 (1766). 



Melanocorypha, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 322. 



Saxilauda, apud Lesson, Compl. Buff. (1837). 



Phileremos apud Keyserling & Blasius, Wirbelth. Eur. p. xxxvii (1840). 



Calandrella apud Brandt, fide Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Av. i. p. 243 (1850). 



Calandra apud Dubois, Ois. de la Belg. pt. 102b (1858). 



Pallasia apud E. F. von Homeyer, J. f. Orn. 1873, p. 190. 



The Calandras inhabit the Palaearctic, Ethiopian, and Oriental Regions, four species being found 

 in the Western Palaearctic Region. In general habits they are said to resemble the Sky-Lark, 

 frequenting the open country, and collecting in the winter in flocks. They are very good 

 songsters, uttering their rich and varied notes whilst circling in the air; and they are said 

 to have the power of imitating the notes of other birds. They feed on insects and seeds, 

 construct a somewhat loosely made cup-shaped nest of grass-straws, which they place on the 

 ground, and deposit greyish-white eggs richly blotched with purplish grey and several shades 

 of brown. 



Melanocorypha calandra, the type of the genus, has the bill stout, rather short, compressed, 

 subconic, upper mandible curved towards the tip ; gape-line nearly straight ; nostrils oval, basal, 

 concealed by bristly feathers ; crown without elongated feathers ; wings long, pointed, the first 

 quill very small, the second longest, the third very nearly as long ; inner secondaries moderate, 

 shorter than the sixth quill ; tail short, nearly even ; legs strong, tarsus covered in front with 

 six large and three inferior scutellae; claws moderate, slightly curved, except the hind claw, 

 which is elongated and nearly straight. 



6 9 



