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Show 1874.] LARKS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. 637 ashy brown narrowly margined with sandy white, the outer feathers near the bend of the wing sandy white spotted with brown, the centres of the feathers being of this colour ; " upper mandible horn-colour, the lower one buff shading into dark horn-colour towards the tip; legs pale brown; iris brown" (Shelley). Total length 6'8 inches, culmen 0*75, wing 4-0, tail 275, tarsus 10. Young. Duller and more uniform brown than the adult, with whitish edgings to the feathers of the crown, ear-coverts, and wing-coverts, the greater series of the latter with sandy rufous margins; quills brown, paler towards the tips, and margined with sandy rufous paling into whitish buff towards the tips of the secondaries ; under surface of body white, the breast streaked with blackish brown, each feather narrowly margined with whitish. Winter plumage. Duller and more ashy brown than in summer, all the feathers obscured with greyish margins; underneath more yellowish, the spots on the breast duller and paler brown, and not nearly so largely developed. Hab. The Cape colony, ranging into the eastern districts, and northwards into Little Namaqua Land. As in the other South-African Larks, great variation in size of bill exists in the present species ; and the want of carefully sexed specimens prevents m y accounting for these differences; but the males seem to be rather larger, to judge from the following measurements, the only ones in which I have any guide to the sexes. Total length, wing. tail, tarsus. a, 2 ad. Stellendorf (G. E. Shelley). 7'0 * 3*8 2*75 1*0 b, 3 ad. Little Namaqua Land (Andersson) 6-8 3-95 2-85 0-98 Captain Shelley recently collected two birds in the Cape colony, towards the end of January. They appear to be young birds, in their first winter plumage, from which they are just emerging by a moult; but on the head the feathers have sandy-coloured margins. The new feathers are much richer brown, almost black in the centre, with rufescent margins; but these gradually get bleached in time. Specimens examined. E mus. Brit.:-a. S. Africa, b, c. Cape, d, $ ad. S. Africa (Sir A. Smith), e. S. Africa (Andersson). Emus. R. B. S.: - a, ad. South Africa (Layard). b, juv. S. Africa (Layard). c, 3 ad. Little Namaqua Land, July 29th, 1862 (Andersson). d, e, 3 2 ad. Hope Town (T. C. Atmore). E mus. G. E. Shelley:-a. Ceres, Cape colony, Jan. 28, 1874 (G. E. S.). b, 2 ad. Stellendorf, Cape colony, Jan. 23, 1864 (G.E.S.). t '. ,_ ' E mus. H. B. Tristram :-a. South Africa (Layard). 17. MlRAFRA. Type. Mirafra, Horsf. Tr. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 159 (1820) M.javanica. * In the flesh; 6-5 in skin. |
