F orm, &c. Head rather small; body moderately full; tail rather long and
slightly forked. Bill conical, the upper mandible slightly curved, especially
towards the point; nostrils narrow, and nearly bare; bristles at angles of
mouth strong. Wings rounded, and when folded extend rather beyond the
middle of the ta il; the first quill feather rudimentary, the third, fourth, and
fifth equal and longest, the second slightly shorter than the third; the tertiary
quill feathers rather shorter than the second primary quill feather, and the
secondaries rather shorter than the tertiaries. Tarsi moderately robust, anteriorly
scutellated, posteriorily entire; toes short and rather strong, the
three directed forwards, armed with short, slightly-curved, and blunt claws,
the one backward with a long, nearly straight, and pointed claw.
DIMENSIONS.
Inches. Lines.
Length from the point of the bill to the
base of the tail ...... ........... 3 g
of the bill to the angle of-the
mouth........................... 0 10
Length of the tail ............................. 2 10
wings when folded ...... 3 Q
Female colours less bright.
Length of the tarsi ............................. 0
outer toe ..........................0 34
middle toe ............... 0 6
inner toe ...................... 0 31
hinder toe........... q 33,
This species has rather an extensive range, and specimens are procured in great abun
dance towards Cape Town. It inhabits arid situations, and is common on the sand-flats
immediately to the eastward of Table Bay. In the situations it inhabits, it is often seen'.
especially m the morning, rising, almost perpendicularly, to a considerable height in the
air, and descending in the same manner, so that it frequently lights on the very shrub or
knoll from which it. ascended. During the ascent, it strikes its wings together with considerable
violence, from time to time, and so produces sharp sounds, a circumstance to which
it owes its colonial appellation.
Aves.— P late CX. F ig . 2.
B. cervice dorsoque rufescentibus brunneo-variatis ; guttere pectoreque albis, ultimo brunneo-strigato ; ab-
domine auranteo-albo ; remigibus brunneis, rufo-marginatis ; plumis scapularibus nigro-brunneis externe
rufo-fasciatis.
L’Alouette a Dos Roux, Le Vaillant, Ois d’Afrique, pi. 197.
älauda P yrrhonotha, Vieillot, Ornithologie Part Première, p. 322.
Alauda Erythronotus, Stephens’ Continuation of Shaw’s Zoology.
Inkelde Lewerk of the Dutch Colonists.
C olour.—The upper surface of the head light chestnut-brown, the feathers
towards the nape streaked with umber-brown; the back of the neck, the
back, the rump, and the shoulders rufous, or a pale rusty reddish orange,
each feather variegated towards the quill with an umber-brown stripe, and
many of them with a curved bar of the same colour, situated directly behind
the white or reddish white edging which terminates the feather. Throat and
breast white, the lower portion of the former and all the latter streaked with
umber-brown ; the sides of the breast, the belly, flanks, and under tail coverts
rusty buff-orange. Primary quill coverts umber-brown, edged with rusty
sienna-yellow; secondary quill coverts reddish brown, tipped with sienna-
yellow, and barred behind the tip with umber-brown. Primary and secondary
quill feathers reddish brown, the outer vanes and tips sienna-yellow or rusty
white, the two innermost tertiaries and the scapular feathers rusty orange-
brown, edged with white and barred with liver-brown. Tail feathers generally
umber-brown, the outer vanes and tips edged with pale rufous; the two
middle feathers rusty reddish orange, barred with liver-brown. Eyes bright
chestnut-brown. Bill above buff-orange, shaded towards the point with
greenish brown; lower mandible greenish brown towards point, towards base
light greenish yellow. Tarsi and toes pale buff-orange, tinted with flesh-red,
claws the same colour shaded with greenish brown.
F orm, &c.BFigure rather robust; wings when folded reach to nearly the
middle of the tail, the third and fourth quill feathers rather longer than the