174 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 
muscles of their breasts agitated, breathing with difficulty, 
as if they panted for respiration” (0. c, IIL, p. 199). I 
have had my attention drawn to the same thing in other 
and larger birds. ; 
113. SHORT-TOED LARK, Calandrella brachydactyla 
, (Leisler). 
First met with on the 3rd of March, and for the next ten 
days it was very common in flocks, no doubt migrating 
northwards. After that there was a decided lull. Captain 
Shelley thinks it does not stay to breed (Ibis, 1871, p. 140.) 
I certainly saw none in June, and I do not think I saw any 
in May. It is very terrestrial and very gregarious, prefer- 
ring the plains, where its light-coloured plumage, assimilating 
to the colour of the surrounding ground, is a protection. 
None of my specimens have the crown at all rufous. 
114. TRISTRAM’S DESERT LARK, Ammomanes fraterculus, 
Tristr. 
Mr. Dresser unites this with A. deserti (Licht.), but look- 
ing to my series of seven specimens, I think there surely is 
enough difference in colouring between them and A. deserti 
to earn them specific rank. I found them very common 
from Thebes to Assouan, generally in pairs. In one of my 
specimens the culmen is 0.6; in another 0.45. 
115. DESERT LARK, Ammomanes deserti (Licht) ; 
A. isabellina (Tem.). 
I shot one at Feshn on the 25th of February on the east 
bank, where a few pairs were singing blithely upon the stony 
barren hills, 
