GROUND-LARK 
357 
white ground-colour, heavily marked all over with 
greyish brown. 
HORSFIELD'S BUSH-LARK OR CROP- 
LARK 
Mirafra javanica horsfieldii 
It would be difficult to find a less suitable name for 
this species than that of Bush-lark, by which ornith- 
ologists have generally known it. Never by any 
possibility does one meet with it in the bush. I 
have adopted the name Crop-lark because the bird 
lives in the growing crops from August until harvest, 
and nests there. Even after the crops have been 
cut it frequents the stubbles. 
I have had some doubt as to whether the species 
migrates north in winter, but I am inclined to think 
it does not. So prominently does its song bring it 
under the notice of the bird-lover in the spring that 
he is apt to suppose that in the months during which 
it is silent, say from December till July, it is no longer 
in the district. In May, 1904, numbers of Crop-larks 
were present in the stubbles on Mr. Cochrane's 
farm " Aitkenside," Ceres, and on April 12th, 1912, 
they were equally plentiful on the plains beyond 
Moorabool Station. Probably the birds spend the 
winter in the field where they nested in the previous 
season, if the stubble remains ; if the land is ploughed 
up, I think they merely move to the nearest stubble 
