and making a sort of rattling sound.” In the Transvaal, states
Mr. Ayres :—“ These Larks frequent principally the open country,
and are tolerably plentiful to the west of Potchefstroom, between
the Hartz and Yaal Rivers. They are found singly or in pairs, and
are fond of sitting on any low bush to sun themselves, at the same
uttering a rather loud whistle, pretty constantly repeated.” The
late Mr. Frank Oates found the species at Tibaka's Vley, a little
to the south of the Zambesi.
Mr. Andersson does not appear to have procured it in Damara
Land, but Senor Anehieta found it very common at Quillengues
from January to March, and also obtained it at Humbe on the
Cunene River.*
Adult male in summer plumage.—Above light fawn brown, all the
feathers with a distinct blaekish shaft-streak down the centre and
margined with ashy fulvous; the rump slightly more ashy than the
back, narrowly streaked with brown, the upper tail-coverts shading
off into light fulvous and having dark brown shaft-stripes; wing-
coverts fawn colour, darker brown in the centre of the feather,
margined with fulvous and streaked with dark brown along the shaft,
the greater coverts light rufous towards their tips ; primary coverts
rufous fawn, with narrow whitish margins; quills rufous fawn,
gradually shading off into dark brown, which occupies about the
terminal third of the quills, which are margined with ashy white or
fawn colour; the secondaries brown, washed with fawn colour externally,
and broadly margined and tipped with ashy buff; tail dark
brown, the feathers margined with ashy buff, especially the two
centre ones, which are rufous fawn at base, extending some way up
the margins of the feathers, a shade of the same colour extending
over the other feathers near their base, the outer feather creamy buff
on the outer web, the penultimate one narrowly margined externally
with the same colour; crown of head bright fawn colour, with a few
narrow shaft-lines of dark brown, the forehead minutely streaked,
giving it a certain obscurely mottled appearance; lores and a rather
broad eyebrow buffy white, as also the sides of the face, the cheeks
and ear-coverts minutely spotted with dark brown, the ear-coverts
washed with rufous, and inclining to dark brown on their upper
* Professor Barboza du Bocage mentions a Lark from Caconda which he
proposes to call M. angolensis as being allied to M. africcma, but, as yet, no
detailed description has been published by him.
margin ; throat white, the rest of the under surface isabelline buff,
washed with bright fawn colour, minutely spotted with dark brown
on the lower throat and chest, and streaked with the same on the
sides of the breast; under wing-coverts entirely rich fawn colour,
a little brighter than the inner lining of the wing, which is rufous
and very conspicuous; “ upper mandible dusky, lower mandible
pale ; tarsi and feet pale; iris light hazel ” [Ayres).
Total length, 7 inches; culmen, 0 8 ; wing, 4’0; tail, 8'0;
tarsus, 1'3.
Adult female.—Smaller than male, and with a much thinner bill.
Total length, 6'8 inches; culmen, 0‘75; wing, 3 5 ; tail, 2'7;
tarsus, 1*2.
Winter plumage.—Much darker brown than in summer, and not
nearly so rufous on the upper surface, the rufous of the crown
entirely obscured by the broad dark brown shaft-stripes, and the
forehead entirely brown, shaded with ashy and slightly tinged with
rufous; the hinder back and rump decidedly shaded with ashy;
below rather more richly coloured than in summer, the breast largely
marked with triangular spots of dark brown; hind neck decidedly
more ashy, separating the head from the back.
Young.—Obscure brown, with hardly any rufous shade above;
the hind neck washed with ashy fulvous, all the feathers very broadly
black in the centre, and subterminally barred with a crescentic black
line, very conspicuous before the fulvous tips to the feathers, more
distinct on the wing-coverts, which incline to light fawn colour;
quills much as in adult, and rufous at base, the inner secondaries
dark brown, with a distinct ashy whitish margin, before which runs
another subterminal line of black ; tail brown, shaded with ashy on
the margins of the feathers, the external web of the outer tail-feather
creamy white, the penultimate one broadly margined with the same;
over the eye a broad superciliary streak of creamy buff; lores and
sides of face buffy white, the cheeks thickly spotted with black,
the ear-coverts washed with rufous; throat white, with a few tiny
specks of brown on the lower p a rt: rest of under surface isabelline
fulvous, the breast washed with fawn rufous and mottled with
rufous brown bars, some of the new triangular-spotted feathers just
appearing.
Fig. Smith, 111. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pi. lxxxviii, fig. 1.