962 Synopsis of Indian Fringillidcs. [No. 156. 



deal less rufescent underneath than those from southern India, while 

 the Bengal ones are in this respect intermediate. The common Bengal 

 Lark very closely resembles the preceding species, or British Sky Lark, 

 in its song and habits. 



3. A. malabarica, Scopoliand Gmelin ; A. deva, Sykes, P. Z. S. 1832, 

 p. 92; Jerdon, in « Madras Journal/ XI, 31. So closely allied to the 

 preceding as to bear out the supposition of the distinctness of the differ- 

 ent races of the latter which I have brought together ; but at once dis- 

 tinguishable by the pointed form of its crest. Indian peninsula. 



4. A. raytal, Buch. Hamilton, MS. Length five inches and a quarter, 

 by eight and a half across ; of wing three inches and three-eighths ; 

 tail two and one-eighth : bill to gape five-eighths ; tarse three-quarters, 

 and hind-toe and claw half an inch. General hue of the upper-parts 

 brownish -ashy, with narrow dark centres to the feathers ; of the lower 

 white, faintly tinged with yellowish on the breast, where obscurely 

 marked with small spots ; wing- coverts and tertiaries margined with 

 pale fulvescent ; outermost tail-feather white, except the inner half of 

 the internal web throughout its length, and the next tail-feather white 

 along the marginal half of its outer web only ; there is also a whitish line 

 through the eyes : bill pale horny ; and legs yellowish, the hind- claw 

 not exceeding the toe in length. I obtained a fine specimen of this 

 bird alive, and kept it for some time, when just as it had come into 

 good plumage it died, and, as a specimen, was destroyed by the ants. 

 Buchanan Hamilton received a pair from Lucknow ; and an example of 

 apparently the same species was procured by Sir A. Burnes in the west. 



Certhilauda, Swainson. Larks with slender incurved bill, and small first 

 primary-quill to the wing. With the following exception, so far as 

 known, natives of Africa. 



C. chendoola; Alauda chendoola, Franklin, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 119, 

 (nee apud Jerdon). Bengal, Nepal, Northern India generally, extending 

 westward to Scinde.* 



* The following description was taken from a pale specimen of a large, thick-bil- 

 led, subcrested Lark from Afghanistan. Length seven inches, or more ; of wing four 

 inches; and tail two and a quarter; bill to forehead three-quarters of an inch, thickish 

 and compressed ; tarse an inch or nearly so. Head crested as in A. arborea. Colour 

 of variety pale sandy fulvescent-brown above, the centres of dorsal feathers darker, 

 those of crown but slightly so : under-parts whitish, fulvescent on breast, with much 



