374 
BIRDS OF BEITISH BUEMAH. 
it very abundant in Southern Pegu between the Pegu and the Sittang 
rivers as far north as the latitude of Shwaygheen. Dr. Armstrong states 
that it is spread over the whole Irrawaddy delta^ and Mr. Davison observed 
it in the plains between the Sittang and the Salween rivers and in the 
immediate neighbourhood o£ Moulmein. It is apparently absent in the 
Irrawaddy valley from the head of the Delta up to the frontier. 
It occurs in Siam and Cochin China^ and under various names is found 
throughout China and Eastern Siberia. It ranges through the Indo- 
Burmese countries and is diffused over the whole peninsula of India and 
Ceylon. 
This Lark chiefly frequents cultivated lands, but is also found in those 
portions of the plains which are covered Avith wild paddy and short elephant- 
grass. It is, I believe, a constant resident. It soars very high, and sings 
quite as well as the English Sky-Lark. It is in song from October, or even 
earlier, up to March or April. It commences to breed very early, as 
I have found the nest with well-incubated eggs as early as the end of 
December. The nest is merely a small pad of grass placed in a hoof-mark 
or depression in the soil, frequently, but not always, under the shelter of a 
tuft of grass, and is semidomed. The eggs, three or four in number, are 
greyish white mottled with brown. 
Genus ALAUDULA, Blyth.'' 
349. ALAUDULA RAYTAL. 
THE INDIAN SAND-LARK. 
Alauda raytal, Bl. J. A. S. B. xiii. p. 962. Alaudula raytal, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. 
p. 428 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 481 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 95 ; Hume, S. F. iii. 
p. 159 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 606 ; Cripps, S. F. vii. p. 295 ; Hume, S. F. 
viii. p. 109 ; Oates, S. F. x. p. 234. 
Description. — Male and female. Upper plumage greyish brown, with 
dark shaft-lines; lores, supercilium and feathers under the eye white; ear- 
coverts streaked with grey and brown ; lower plumage white, with a few 
small brown streaks on the breast ; wings brown, edged with the colour of 
the upper plumage ; tail brown, edged with greyish white ; the outermost 
feathers all white, except the edge of the inner webs ; the penultimate 
white on the outer webs, brown on the inner. 
Legs fleshy yellow ; claws pale horn ; bill horn- colour with a greenish 
* Horsf. & Moore, Cat. Birds Mus. E.I. Co. ii. p. 471. 
