PYEEHULAUDA GEISEA. 
(THE BLACK-BELLIED FINCH-LARK.) 
Alauda grisea, Scopoli, Faunae Insubr. ii. p. 95 (1786). 
Alauda gingica, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 795 (1788). 
Fnngilla cmcigera, Temm. PL Col. 269. fig. 1 (1838). 
Pyrrhulauda crucigera (Temm.), Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. xi. p. 35 (1840). 
Pyrrliulauda grisea, G. R. Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 381 (1841) ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. 
p. 134 (1849); Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 126 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 
Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 259; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. ii. p. 479 (1856); 
Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 424 (1863); Holdsvv. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 465 ; Hume, Str. Featb. 
1873, p. 212; Adam, t. c. p. 388; Hume, Nests and Eggs, ii. p. 478 (1874); Ball, 
Str. Featb. 1874, p. 422; Legge, ibid. 1875, p. 371 ; id. Ibis, 1875, p. 399 ; Butler & 
Hume, Str. Featb. 1875, p. 499; Fairbank, ibid. 1876, p. 261; Hume, t. c. p. 459; 
Fairbank, ibid. 1877, p. 409 ; Ball, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 223; Cripps, t. c. p. 295. 
Alouette grise de Qingi, Scopoli, Sonn. AMy. Ind. ii. p. 203 (1782). 
Gingi Lm'k, Puree Finch (Latbam) ; Squat Fmch, Ortolan, Europeans in India. Piyora, 
Puri, and (most commonly) PahhaJc-churi, lit. “ Squat Sparrow,” Hind. ; Chat Bharai, 
Phula-chata, in Bengal ; Poti-pichiJce, lit. “ Short or Ground- Sparrow.” 
Adult male. Length 4’8 to 5-0 inches ; wing 3‘0 to 3-1 ; tail 1-6 ; tarsus 0-6 ; middle toe and claw 0‘55 ; bill to 
gape 0-5. 
Iris brown or yellowish brown ; bill whitish ; legs and feet reddish grey, claws dusky ; eyelids brown. 
Above greyish brown, with a rufescent tinge on the back, the bases of the feathers brown, and the head paling gradually 
into the albescent of the forehead ; wdngs and tail brown, the coverts, tertials, and secondaries very broadly edged 
and tipped with whitish ; the major coverts and tertials slightly tinged with rufous ; tail pale edged, with the 
outer feathers almost entirely rufescent whitish ; cheeks and ear-coverts white ; a broad baud from the gape over 
the eyes to the occiput, chin, throat, sides of fore neck, centre of chest, breast, belly, and under tail-coverts 
dull black ; under wing-coverts the same ; sides of chest greyish w-hite. 
In abraded plumage the fulvous-lromi margins of the chtldng-feathers disappear and the “ribs” of the webs become 
bleached, giving the plumage a grey appearance ; the pale tips of the tertial feathers and the margins of the 
rectrices likewise disappear. 
Female. Length 5-8 inches ; wing 2-7o to 2-95. 
Bill not so white as in the male. 
Head and upper surface earthy brown ; the upper tail-coverts margined with whitish ; the wings not so conspicuously 
margined ; the white cheeks and all the black markings are wanting, the under surface being albescent, w^asbed 
with fulvous-brown on the chest, the feathers being centred darker than the edges ; flanks dusky ; bases of the 
greater under wiug-covei’ts darlc brown ; supercilium and space just beneath the eye bully white ; ear-coverts 
brownish. In birds in old plumage the upper tail-coverts are dark from abrasion. 
Young. The nestling is at first covered with fulvous-coloured down. 
A young female (St. Thomas Mount, Madras) has the feathers of the head and occiput tipped with ochraeeous and 
marked with a subterminal blackish band; the feathers of the back and rump have tlie same blackish markings, 
but not so dark, and their tips and lateral margins are buff ; ear-coverts and sides of neck brownish tawny ; wing- 
coverts and tertials broadly margined with fulvous tawny ; upper tail-coverts pale fulvous ; central tail-feathers 
sandy bufii, and the whole edged with buify white : beneath tawny yellowish ; the chest and breast with dark 
centres to the feathers. 
The tarsal scales are very pronounced in this immature specimen. 
