| OCR Text |
Show 1874.] LARKS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. 651 pying the base of both webs. Total length 5*5 inches, culmen 0*65, wing 3*45, tail 2*4, tarsus 1*1. Another specimen is rather clearer and more bluish grey above, the central streaks darker and plainer, the spots on the chest a little larger and more distinct. Total length 5*4 inches, culmen 0*6, wing 335, tail 2*15, tarsus 1*0. This is probably the female bird. Hab. Ovampo Land. Specimens examined. E mus. R. B. S. :-a, 3. Ondonga, Ovampo Land, Nov. 14, 1866 (C. J. Andersson). b. Ondonga, Oct. 20, 1866 (C. J. A.). 18. SPIZALAUDA. Type. Spizalauda, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv. p. 258 (1855) .... S. deva. The principal character of this genus is its enormous crest. 19. OTOCORYS. Eremophila, Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 322 (nee Humb. Type. 1805) O. alpestris. Phileremos, Brehm, Vbg. Deutschl. p. 312 (1831, nee Latr. 1809) O. alpestris. Otocoris, Bp. 1839 (teste Gray, infra, sed ubil). Philamnus, Gray, List of Gen. 1840, p. 47 O. alpestris. This genus is very easily distinguished by its ear-tufts. The only species of Lark from South Africa which I have not seen, and consequently have been unable to include, is the following, MIRAFRA NIGRICANS. Alauda nigricans, Sund. CEfv. K. Vet. Acad. Forh. Stockh. 1850, p. 99. Mirafra nigricans, Gray Hand-1. ii. p. 121 (1870). The following is a translation of Professor Sundevall's original description. Dusky blackish; underneath white, the breast spotted with black; the orbits and elongated eyebrows white; the stripes on the throat, cheeks, and lores black. 8 inches long, wing 4-8, tarsus P25, middle toe 0*75, with nail 0-9. Bill tolerably large for a Lark; nostrils bare, with an arched membrane. Feet raised, as in most African Larks ; all the claws short; that of the hind toe less than an inch, curved. Tail moderate, entirely black (in our specimens injured). Quills black, the primaries invariably broadly fulvous. Our male specimens, killed during moult, are varied above with some feathers waved with pale rufous, the wing-coverts edged with white. Hab. The district of the Limpopo in Upper Caffraria. 42* |
