MELANOCORYPHA. 



195 



Gen. Calendrella.— ifattp. 



Bill shortj sub-conic ; wings long; 1st primary minute; 2nd, 3rd and 

 4th equal and longest; tertiaries elongated, nearly as long as the prima- 

 ries ; feet small ; toes and claws short ; hind claw straight. 



Calendrella brachydactyla, Leisl; Jerd. B. Ind. ii. 426, No. 761 ; 

 Blf. East. Pers. ii. p. 242; Murray, Edblc, Zool., ^c, Sind, p. 187. 

 Alauda calendrella, Bonelli. Naum. vogt. t. 98, 2 ; Gould. B. Eur. pi. 

 163. — The Short-toed or Social Laek. 



Head, nape, back, scapulars and rump pale rufous brown, the 

 feathers with dark centres; upper tail-coverts paler, with fulvous edgings 

 and dark shaft-streaks ; supercilium fulvous white ; chin and throat 

 whitish ; breast and rest of under surface fulvous white, with a brown- 

 ish tinge on the breast, which in some is spotless, in others with a 

 few faint brown spots; under tail-coverts white; wing-coverts, primaries, 

 secondaries and tertiaries dusky brown, the outer margin of the first 

 (2nd) long primary pale falvous, and the secondaries and tertials with 

 pale rufous edgings, broader on the tertials ; edge of the wing pale 

 white ; tail dusky, with the outermost feather fulvous white, except an 

 oblique dusky streak on the inner margin of the inner web ; the nest 

 feather white on the outer web only, all the others, in some specimens 

 tipped whitish, in others not tipped ; central tail feathers with broad 

 rufescent edgings ; bill horny, dusky on the ridge of upper mandible to 

 the tip ; legs brown ; irides dark brown. 



Length. — 6 to 6-25 inches, wing 4, tail 2'25, tarsus 0*8. 



Hah. — Europe, Asia and Africa. Found throughout India to the foot 

 of the Himalayas. Common in Sind, the Punjab, N. W. Provinces and 

 Bengal ; Kutch, Kattiawar, Rajputana generally, and North Guzerat ; 

 Khandeish and Central India, less numerous in parts of Southern 

 India. In the Concans and Deccan it is extremely common, as also in 

 Beloochistan, Persia, S. Afghanistan, and E. Turkistan. Breeds in 

 Sind during April and May. 



Gen. Melanocorypha.— -Boie. 



Bill thick and convex ; tertiaries not elongated ; hind claw moderate, 

 straight. 



Melanocorypha bimaculata, Menet. Cat. Rais. p. 37 ; Sharpe, 

 Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. viii. p. 180, Series 4, 1871; Blf. E. 

 Pers. ii p. 244; Hume, 8tr. F. vii. p. 421; Murray, Hdhk., Zool., 8fc., 

 Sind, p. 189. Melanocorypha calandra, liwpp. Syst. Ueburs. p. 78. M. 

 torquata, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi. p. 476; M. rufescens, Brehm. Naum. 

 1856, p. 376. 



'^ Adult Male in Summer Plumage. — Above fulvous brown, the 

 centres of the plumes much darker brown, giving a somewhat mottled 

 appearance, all the feathers being edged with fulvous, especially on 

 the hinder part of the neck and centre of the back ; wing-coverts 

 coloured like the back, but a little more rufous, plainly edged with 

 fulvous, less distinct on the greater coverts ; quills brown with a slight 

 shade of ashy grey on the outer webs ; all the feathers more or less nar- 



