1132 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII 
No. XIV.— OCCURRENCE OP THE DESERT LARK {ALAEMON 
DESERTORUM) IN THE PUNJAB. 
I am not aware that the occurrence and breeding of the Desert Lark has been 
reported from the Punjab. Neither in the Faima of India, Birds, nor in Hume 
and Oates’ “ Nests and Eggs of Indian Birds ” is the Punjab mentioned. The 
following may therefore he of interest. 
On the 18th current, accompanied by my wife, I was looking in the desert 
country west of this place for possible nests of the Spotted Sandgrouse, when my 
wife called my attention to a curious nest that she had just found. It was like 
nothing that I had ever seen before, and there was no bird on, or near, it. It 
was late in the afternoon and we waited as long as we could afford to do, but no 
bird came, though there was one egg in the nest. We left and returned two days 
later. 
On this occasion I foimd a bird sitting. Our approach was not very 
quietly made and the bird got up. I felt sure that it was the Desert Lark, and 
so it proved, after full investigation, to be. There were now three eggs in the 
nest, which was placed in the middle of a vast expanse of perfectly bare, hard, 
dry pat under a small, bare, naked branch which had got stuck in the 
groimd on some occasion when there was rain. There was the “ layer of small 
branches,” or twigs, mentioned by Lt. Francis in “ Nests and Eggs”, about 
a foot in diameter ; it did not however raise the nest above the ground so much 
as make a fringe all roimd the nest. There was also the deep cup, lined 
in this case with wool and a httle fine grass. The nest was indeed “ very cons- 
picuous,” though the odds against any human being finding it in this great 
desert space were long. I let the sitting bird run away in order to use to 
the full the time at my disposal for observation. Her Plover-hke appearance 
(I take it this was the female, though, unfortunately, the underparts were, 
later, too damaged for certain identification of sex of the dead bird) and 
china- white, long, legs struck me at once. Once off the nest, the bird was wary, 
and her behaviom on this occasion was unhke that of Lt. Francis’ bird, 
so after following for a bit, I decided to wait at a distance till she should return. 
1 then became aware of a loud melodious call, something like “tee, tee, tee” followed 
by a trill reminiscent to one long absent from England of the trill of the Nightin- 
gale. I looked round and saw another and similar bird, evidently the mate of the 
one I had disturbed. At times he ran, and once I saw him chmb into the 
air for about 30 feet and almost tumble down again, the white, grey and brown 
of the upper wing and the silvery wing-lining being very conspicuous in these 
aerial movements. The call was repeated several times, but out of one corner of 
my eye I was looking at the nest, and the original hird was now returning. I 
followed her and this time, my approach being more cautious, she let me get 
within six or eight yards of the nest, seeming to hope that she would escape 
notice. Rather rejuctantly she left, and I had no difficulty in shooting her. 
On examination, the specimen I secured measures 8.5" with a wing of a little 
less than 4.5." I note that the “ Fauna ” says the females are much smaller than 
the males, and that the maximum length given is 11". My specimen seems paler 
than normal, the outer tail-feathers and the primaries being very much more 
brown than black. 
The eggs in this clutch vary rather in markings, one being more profusely 
speckled, and with the speckles lighter in colour, than the other two. The colour 
is as described in “ Nests and Eggs.” 
R. C. BOLSTER, I.C.S. 
Deea Nawab, Bhawalpub State, Punjab, 
20th April 1922. 
