BUSH LARK. 
In the great heat of midday, Mirafra, m common with most birds in the north¬ 
west of this State, seeks the shade, and my hopes were often raised at flushing 
individuals from my very feet, but always to be disappointed by finding 
nothing more than a few bird droppings. Probably each male has its favourite 
tuft for shade purposes.” 
Gould indicated the separation of subspecies when he wrote : “ This species, 
which I have named horsfieldii after the founder of the genus, is sparingly 
dispersed over all the plains and open districts of New South Wales ; I have 
also a specimen procured diuing Dr. Leichardt’s overland expedition from 
Moreton Bay, and one from the neighbomhood of Port Essington; both of 
these, although possessing characters common to each other, differ from 
specimens obtained in New South Wales in being larger, redder in colour, and 
in having a stouter bill—^features which will probably hereafter prove them to 
be distinct, and which exhibit a new alliance to the Mirafra javanica.” 
Notlung was done \mtil Sharpe prepared the Catalogue of the Birds in the 
British Museum, Vol. XIII., dealing with this group, when he added a second 
species for Australia under the name Mirafra secunda, diagnosing it as : 
“ First small primary not 0‘5 inch in length. Eyebrow isabeUine or tawny- 
buff ; shoulder of wing almost entirely rufous, the medium and greater coverts 
showing scarcely any black bases to the feathers.” 
This comparison was with M. javanica, and Sharpe’s description of his 
Mirafra secunda reads “ Very similar to M. javanica, but smaller, and not so 
streaked on the chest; the wing more rufous on the shoulder, the coverts 
being almost aU uniform rufous and not so mottled with black bases as in the 
Java species. Wing 2*8.” Of Mirafra horsjieldi, also ranked as a .distinct 
species, Sharpe Avrote: “ Similar to M. javanica, but grey instead of rufous, 
the whole aspect of the bird being blacker. Wing 2‘9.” To the former Sharpe 
allotted four specimens, one from “ South Australia, Gould CoU.,” which is 
here designated as the type-specimen, two from “ South Australia (J. T. 
Cockerell),” which may have come from any place in Australia, and one 
unlocalised skin. Birds from New South Wales, Richmond River, Port 
Essington and North-west Australia (Bowyer Bower) were classed as M. hors- 
fieldi. The few birds Sharpe had under view certainly differed, and they 
differed more from each other than they did from M. javanica. Moreover, at 
the same time Sharpe recognised the close relationsliip of the forms, as 
he classed a form from Flores as a subspecies ordy of the Australian M. 
horsfieldii, as he also ranked the Mirafra of the Philippine Islands. 
On the authority of the British Museum Catalogue two species Avere included 
in the Australian fauna, writers differentiating the South Australian bird from 
the Victorian as a distinct species. 
VOL. xn. 
153 
