383 



EHAMPHOCOEIS CLOT-BEY. 



(THICK-BILLED LARK.) 



Melanocorypha clot-bey, Bonap. Conspect. Av. p. 242 (1850). 



HlerapterMna cavaignacii, O. Desmurs et H. Luc. Rev. et Mag. de Zool. p. 24 (1851). 



Alauda clot-bey, Malh. Faun. Ornith. de l'Alg. p. 21 (1855). 



Bhamphocoris clot-bey, Bonap. Comptes Rendus, torn. xxxi. p. 423. 



Ad. isabellino-arenarius, pluinis indistincte fulvido limbatis : tectricibus alarum medialiter brunneis fulvido 

 limbatis; remigibus brunneis extus isabellino lavatis, secundariis latius, medianis latissime albo 

 terminatis : rectricibus albis, versus apicem brunnescentibus, isabellino terminatis, duabus mediis 

 pallide arenariis : loris et plumis supraocularibus nigricantibus : macula infraoculari longitudinali 

 alba, : facie laterali brunnescenti-nigra, medialiter albo maculata : subtus albidus, corporis lateribus 

 isabellinis, gutture et pectore medio brunnescenti-nigro maculatis : subalaribus albis, interioribus et 

 axillaribus fumosis : rostra et pedibus pallide brunneis : iride brunnea. 



Adult Male (Saharan plateaux) . Head, nape, and back rich sandy isabelline or greyish cream-coloured ; 

 the feathers on the crown having dark centres giving the head an indistinct striated appearance ; large 

 wing-coverts dark brown, broadly margined and tipped with rufous isabelline, the smaller coverts being 

 entirely of this latter colour; quills blackish brown, the first primary having the outer web creamy 

 white, the remainder being indistinctly edged with dirty white, secondaries very broadly tipped with 

 white, forming a conspicuous white patch across the wing, the innermost secondaries having the brown 

 washed with rufous towards the tip ; scapulars the same as the back ; tail white at the base, the outer 

 feather on each side having merely a large blackish brown patch at the tip of the inner web, the next 

 with a still larger patch, extending also over the outer web, and each successive feather with less white 

 and more brown, the central feathers rufous isabelline almost to the base, the central portion washed 

 with brown towards the tip ; upper tail-coverts pale isabelline ; chin white ; sides of the face and head 

 black, this colour almost meeting below the chin ; below the eye a white streak, and on the side of the 

 face a white spot in the centre of the black; throat, breast, and underparts generally pure white, 

 washed with rufous isabelline on the flanks, throat, and breast, down to the abdomen thickly spotted 

 with black, which spots along the centre of the breast are thickly collected, forming a broad black 

 patch, the feathers having the terminal portion almost entirely black; under wing-coverts blackish, 

 broadly margined with white; under tail-coverts pure white; beak and legs pale sandy brown; iris 

 brown. Total length 7 - 2 inches, culmen - 8, height of beak at base 05, width of mandible at base 37, 

 wing 4 - 9, tail 2 - 8, tarsus 0'83. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male, but everywhere paler in colour, the black being less pure, and here and 

 there washed with rufous buff. 



This extraordinary species of Lark, so different in form from any other member of the family, 

 was first described by Bonaparte (ex Temminck) from a specimen sent from Egypt by Clot-Bey, 

 the physician in ordinary to Mehemet Ali, which is now in the Leiden Museum. Von Heuglin 

 thinks that the specimen in question may probably have been procured in the western portion of 



